-----Original Message-----
From: Roderick Smith [mailto:rodsmith@werple.net.au]
Sent: Monday, 26 June 2017 6:56 PM
To: 'transportdownunder@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: snippets, Sat.20.5.17

Attached:

170520Sa Metro Twitter - 1987 South Melbourne Hitachi (Weston Langford).

170520Sa Melbourne 'Herald Sun':
- airport line.
- New York car attack.

Roderick

Sat.20.5 Metro Twitter.
From 1906 to 1956, the Victorian Railways ran trams from St Kilda to
Brighton Beach. Here's one departing St Kilda rail station in the '20s.
[sent earlier].
Here's the same tram terminus at St Kilda station but this time looking
south towards Fitzroy St & Grey St.
In May 1987, you could take a Hitachi to St Kilda! Weston Langford photo at
Albert Rd bridge in Albert Park:
<www.westonlangford.com/images/photo/116000>.

May 20 2017 Wet leaves and sand on tram tracks: Why autumn is the worst for
tram drivers.
It was raining in Melbourne's CBD last Friday morning, and because it's
autumn the city was scattered with leaves.
At the same time on Collins Street, just before Queen Street, a tram driver
told passengers the ride would be slow for the next little while. That's
because, the driver said, the tracks were slippery. It wasn't just due to
rain.
Crowded tram stop at the Bourke Street mall. Photo: Joe Armao .
It was because leaves had become stuck on the tracks; pressed onto the
steel by the weight of the passing trams, but made more adhesive by the
rain. The driver pushed on, moving slowly, only a few metres per minute.
By the time the tram stopped near William Street, many hopped off, while
others remained for the tedious but necessarily careful journey toward
Spencer Street. A passenger told Fairfax Media at no point did he feel the
tram was in danger of slipping off the tracks, but that the driver explained
this was a risk if the tram did not continue slowly.
The driver then said, according to the passenger, that a Yarra Trams'
cleaning truck was on its way to scrape the leaves from the tracks.
This is why on Saturday a tram driver on Collins Street said autumn was the
hardest, or at least the most slippery, time to drive a tram. She said that
the tram tracks became greasy, like footpaths did, when wet leaves had been
pressed into them.
To manage driving on the slippery tracks, she said she could either drive
slowly (Yarra Trams also trains drivers to adjust braking distances in the
wet) or press a button on her dashboard labelled "sand". This dropped sand
onto the tracks and stopped the tram from "skidding".
Despite those safety measures, Rail Tram and Bus Union national president
Phil Altieri said autumn tram driving was still too dangerous.
Although it wasn't wet, leaves and dirty residue were stuck to these tram
tracks on Collins Street. Photo: Anthony Colangelo .
"Autumn is the worst time for our system and the most unsafe time for tram
drivers," Mr Altieri said. "The leaves have lots of oily secretion in them,
they leave a greasy residue on the tracks that turns into black soot over
time.
"It makes the track very slippery . it has been going on for donkey's years
but what is more concerning is the way Yarra Trams deals with it."
Sand, dispensed by tram drivers from their trams, on tracks in Collins
Street. Photo: Anthony Colangelo .
A Yarra Trams spokesperson defended its track-cleaning regime.
"Safety is our priority and a long-established track cleaning regime ensures
tram tracks are in the right condition to enable safe tram trips," the
spokesperson said. "Yarra Trams is doing more track cleaning than ever
before."
But Mr Altieri said Yarra Trams had outsourced track cleaning to a firm
called ISS, which didn't do enough preventative or reactionary track
cleaning in autumn. He said the leaves and their "oily residue" can cause
trams to skid, particularly when travelling on an incline or decline.
Mr Altieri said autumn was the worst time of the year for slippery leaves on
tracks, but that dirty tracks at other times of the year could cause
electric shock. This can occur when a tram becomes "isolated", or when a
tram is on but its wheels are not in direct contact with the tracks.
Yarra Trams said electric shock very rarely occurred to anyone using the
tram network and that areas where more leaves fall are cleaned more
regularly.
Related Content:
A train arrives at South Yarra station.
South Yarra station not forgotten: Andrews government .
Trams stopped at the Domain Interchange on St Kilda Road on Wednesday night.

Major delays at Domain Interchange
<www.theage.com.au/victoria/wet-leaves-and-sand-on-tram-tracks-why-autumn-is
-the-worst-for-tram-drivers-20170520-gw9br8.html>