Oz Trains..

"Aussie trains among worlds worse" was on the headlines this week.. Oh why doesn't this surprise me..

Where do I start.. It was found that "SYDNEY'S train system boasted performance levels hopelessly below every major city from Europe to South America, according to a damning independent report yet to be presented by CityRail."

"Rail experts from Hong Kong were paid by CityRail to compare Sydney with metro systems around the world for efficiency, cost effectiveness, reliability and maintenance."

As I'm no expert in trains, I won't comment on reliability, maintenance and cost effectiveness. Efficiency wise, I have a thing or two to talk about. Trains in Sydney are double decker. Whilst in theory, it can carry more people per carriage, it is actually not designed to handle peak hour traffic.

Whys that? First of all, the design of the carriages centers on a spacious ideology with plenty of space and minimal poles. That may have worked 20 years ago, but given the sharp rise of population density in Sydney CBD, the design should focus on supporting plenty of standing passengers given the limited space on train carriages.

Secondly, the seating arrangement on the top and bottom levels is, again, very inefficient. If the floor plans accounted room for standing passengers, they could easily fit loads more in the same space. Obviously I'm not saying we should strip the seats, but the current isle are way too small to accommodate standing passengers resulting in underutilization of 2 level carriage design.

Finally, with lack of poles in the main carriage area, standing passengers cling to the few poles available which happens to be near the door exits. This creates a bottleneck in the carriage, significantly slowing the in and out flow of passengers. Nice design City Rail.

I see a bird outside..

Instead of the usual 'its been a long time since I blogged', I might just get straight into it.. Oh wait.. I just did it again.. doh!

Thank you to those who came to spectate the annual UNSW Easter badminton open.. although there weren't much to see.. hehe.... and for the unfortunate ones who stayed, they got to see the angry sportsmen side of me.. well I wasn't angry really, its just concentration and to put off the opponents =p Once again, I made it to quarter-finals. It's good to know I haven't slipped since my last dig at this comp =]

AnYwAy! What else happened, oh yea, my birthday, which was a little over a month ago now, I had to work over time on the actual day of my bday =.= ...... But thank you to the people who dragged me outta this hole to get some dinner :D The gift is awesome :) I shall put it to good use!

what else happened, oh yes, people who moved away came back for a visit! And finally had a catchup with someone who came back from overseas several months ago.... who ALSO works in North Sydney (not mentioning any names *cough*)

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