-----Original Message-----
From: Roderick Smith [mailto:rodsmith@werple.net.au]
Sent: Wednesday, 6 September 2017 5:22 PM
To: 'transportdownunder@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: snippets, Wed.6.9.17

Links:

Attached:

170906W Melbourne 'Age' - tramfire.

170906W Melbourne 'Herald Sun':
- tram fire.
- energy & electricity. with tdu

Roderick.

Metro Twitter, Tues.5.9
10.17 YT St Kilda Rd passengers headed to the city may consider bus routes 216, 219 & 220 to connect at Southbank Bvd or Flinders St. Passengers towards the suburbs may consider Sandringham trains. Toorak Rd passengers may consider trains to South Yarra station.
- 11.35 St Kilda Rd & Route 58 trams are disrupted by a power fault in St Kilda Rd .
- 12.20 Ran to High Street Armadale from Dandenong [Rd]; the 220 is nowhere to be seen
- 12.21 Ended up walking from Caulfield North junction down Orrong road - no 220, then a High Street tram arrived; got it to Prahran.
- 12.21 Now at Prahran station and so happy trains are running.
- 12.39 Trams have resumed following the earlier disruption. Delays will occur. St Kilda Rd & route 58 replacement buses continue to operate while we restore frequency.
- 16.37 Another day, another issue with tram 58.
- 16.47 A major incident on the network affected many routes this morning.

Melbourne Express: Wednesday September 6, 2017 .
Some repairs being done on traffic lights on the corner of Russell and Victoria streets this morning after a car drove into them.
They've done a real number of the lights which are on quite a lean. [A reader sent a snap, and apologised for the low quality, caused by advertising smothering the windows of his bus].
8.23 Victoria is facing power blackouts during extreme heat this summer unless urgent reserves are created.
The Australian Energy Market Operator warns new power reserves will be needed to prevent blackouts this summer, but AGL has refused to keep its coal power stations operating for longer [Read more here].
A new report has mapped out Australia's future baseload energy needs. Photo: Daniel Kalisz
<www.theage.com.au/victoria/melbourne-express-wednesday-september-6-2017-20170905-gybm2o.html>

Call for state government to purchase Hazelwood power station. with tdu.
Herald Sun September 5, 2017.
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/call-for-state-government-to-purchase-hazelwood-power-station/news-story/49e5a6468033da84a3b2a80cb9cde793> 50 comments, mainly political sniping.

St Kilda Rd tram ‘explosion’ shuts down eight routes in both directions.
Herald Sun September 5, 2017.
TERRIFIED passengers threatened to break a window on their St Kilda Rd tram when the driver refused to open the doors after it was rocked by an explosion caused by overhead wires.
Passenger Kate Grandison told the Herald Sun she and a work colleague were on the tram — carrying about 30 passengers — when the wires failed, causing the side of their carriage to catch fire about 9.30am at the corner of Toorak Rd.
“We heard an explosion and saw sparks flying and smoke,” she said.
“Our immediate reaction was to move away from the burning window and run.
“Passengers kept calling out to the driver to release the doors but nothing happened.
“After the second explosion myself and other passengers moved to the front of the tram and threatened to break a window if the door was not released.
“The tram driver appeared to have gone into total shock.
“We were just trapped in there, I thought the whole tram was going to explode. I’ve never experienced something like that before, my heart was going at a million miles an hour.”
The power lines struck the side of the tram. Picture David Crosling.
A black scorch mark can be seen on the side of the tram. Picture: David Crosling.
All outbound trams running at the time of the incident were turned back towards the city.
Replacement buses ferried people from outside the Melbourne Arts Centre along St Kilda Rd.
Yarra Trams said services had resumed as of midday.
“Services were disrupted at around 9.30am when an overhead power line came down near the corner of St Kilda Road and Toorak Road,” Yarra Trams spokesman Simon Murphy said.
“We are investigating a potential fault with the tram, which could have caused the damage to the overhead wire.
“We understand the effect that incidents like this can have on our passengers, and we appreciate their patience while our crews worked to safely restore services.”
Buses are still being used to ferry passengers along St Kilda Rd as the timetable returns to normal.
Diane Oliver, who works on St Kilda Rd, described the city’s public transport system as a “nightmare”.
“There’s always something going wrong,” she said.
“We were told to get on a tram and then jump off at the Arts Centre and wait for a bus. There’s never any details, how long do I have to wait?
“You don’t even know if you can get to where you want to go, it’s just typical of the transport system.
“It’s a terrible day and now I’m going to have to walk.”
Emergency crews repairing the overhead lines. Picture: David Crosling.
The incident caused long delays for St Kilda Rd commuters. Picture: David Crosling.
Witness Kate McIntyre said she was sitting in her car at the traffic lights when she heard a massive explosion.
“It sounded like a sheet of concrete dropping,” she said.
“I looked over and could see flames under the tram and then it exploded again and there was fire up the side.
“All I could see was flames and the people in there and I thought ‘ my god, it’s going to go up’.
“It was a full tram, there were mothers with prams and babies trying to get out.”
Local workman ran over and helped usher people to safety, Ms McIntyre said.
A front window on the tram was visibly scorched in the blaze.
Cafe Rosco owner George Gereige said he saw the whole ordeal unfold through his front window.
“I heard a couple of bangs and then I looked out and saw the cable jumping from the tram,” he said.
“Luckily, no one was standing near the burnt window or under the power line, it could have been catastrophic.
“The workers blocked the area off so no one could get near it before the fire crews came.
“This cable was just put in a few weeks ago, so it’s either not up to standard or faulty.”
One witness told 3AW the tram exploded twice within a matter of seconds: “People were trying to get off and then it exploded again.”
A Metropolitan Fire Brigade spokeswoman said when fire crews arrived at the scene about 30 people had been evacuated from the tram.
“The tram had overhead lines that came off and caught the tram alight,” she said.
“The fire is out. The situation is under control.
“We believe there are no injuries.”
Tram routes 1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67 and 72 were affected in both directions, with trams halted between the Arts Centre and St Kilda Junction.
12.39 St Kilda Rd & Route 58: trams have resumed following the earlier disruption. Delays will occur as we work to restore frequency.
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/st-kilda-rd-tram-explosion-shuts-down-eight-routes-in-both-directions/news-story/2907215c4c94e8e19f74d0b88748ff7f> 33 comments, mainly sniping, but some technical: If live power lines were in contact with the tram, the safest place is inside.
* 10.47 Am I supposed to wait for st kilda road tram or what? I paid monthly for this and i need to take alternative transport?

September 5 2017 'It sort of exploded': Commuters flee burning tram after power lines spark blaze .
Terrified commuters were forced to flee a burning Melbourne tram on Tuesday morning, after it was set on fire by live overhead power lines.
Witnesses say they heard a series of "bang noises" come from a Route 58 tram, when it caught alight about 9.30am on Tuesday near the corner of Toorak and St Kilda roads.
More videos 'It sort of exploded': commuters flee tram.
Terrified commuters were forced to flee from a burning Melbourne tram after it was set on fire when overhead power lines overheated.
They then saw live, sparking electric wires flying across the top of the tram. Construction workers, who were working on the tram stop, came to the rescue of 30 passengers on board the tram, who had to be evacuated.
The tram was at a newly-installed tram stop, one of two that were built along Toorak Road West during a school holiday "construction blitz" in early July.
The burnt tram. Photo: Twitter/@patty_mitchell
At this early stage however, Yarra Trams say the focus of their investigation is a possible fault with the tram and not the infrastructure.
George Gereige, owner of Cafe Rosco, which is opposite the scene, said he heard "bang noises, like a firecracker" just after 9am.
"When I looked at the tram, the electricity line above it catapulted across to the left hand side of the tram," he said.
"People were working there, minding the road, and they helped people come out of the tram and go onto the right side of it.
The scene on Tuesday morning. Photo: Twitter/@patty_mitchell
"The line was still live, so if they had've walked onto the other side somebody could have stepped on it and been electrocuted. I heard the workers say, 'walk away from the line I think it is still live'."
Tim Yen, who took photos of smoke billowing out of the tram, said he saw "a large broken cable flopping onto the top of the tram from overhead with sparks flying and smoke".
The scene of the tram fire. Photo: Twitter/@timdyen
"I didn't really want to go near just in case it was dangerous," he said.
Victoria's Rail Tram and Bus Union secretary Phil Altieri​ said it was lucky that no one was injured, considering the lives wires could easily have electrocuted the driver or passengers.
The road was still closed on Tuesday lunchtime.
"So the tram not only caught fire, but it became live," Mr Altieri said.
Mr Gereige said he did not understand how that had happened to a new electrical wire.
"It was a new electricity line, everything there should be new, it's not even a month old," he said. "So that's very surprising.
"It was very lucky nobody was walking around, it could have been a lot worse if somebody got hit, and that is normally a very busy corner with a lot of people walking around."
Another witness, Kate, told radio station 3AW that the tram "had sort of exploded and then was on fire underneath."
"People were trying to get off and then it exploded again. There was ... babies, mothers, people going to work, but they couldn't see that there was fire under the tram.
"All the workmen who were around that area told them to get off ... they were fabulous, they stopped all the traffic."
Kate said she was driving when she witnessed the incident unfold. "Oh my God, I feel sick. I just kept driving, it was terrible," she said.
Route 58 is a new tram route, with a new section that replaces services on Domain Road.
Domain Road is closed for five years to make way for the Metro Tunnel.
A Yarra Trams spokesman said the fire was started by overhead power wires that came down near the corner of St Kilda Road and Toorak Road.
He confirmed that the overhead wires were installed in July, when the tram stop was built, but said the focus of their investigation was "with the tram not the overhead wires."
"We are investigating a potential fault with the tram, which could have caused the damage to the overhead wire," the spokesman said.
About eight firefighters arrived shortly after and contained the blaze in nine minutes, an MFB spokeswoman said. There were no injuries.
graphic
The tram, number 2107, is listed on its profile page as being 25 years old.
The damaged tram was removed from the tracks about 11.30am on Tuesday.
Tram services on St Kilda Road resumed about 12.10pm, but Yarra Trams said there would be delays as they worked to restore the timetable.
St Kilda Road tram replacement buses continued to operate between the Arts Precinct and St Kilda Junction, and Arts Precinct and Toorak, as services resume.
<www.theage.com.au/victoria/it-sort-of-exploded-commuters-flee-burning-tram-after-power-lines-spark-blaze-20170905-gyaxbj.html>

September 6 2017 - Electricity crisis: AGL boss rebukes Turnbull government plan to keep coal power stations operating for longer . with tdu.
<www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/electricity-crisis-agl-boss-rebukes-turnbull-government-plan-to-keep-coal-power-stations-operating-for-longer-20170905-gybb2o.html>

September 6 2017 Coal fight casts a pall over Malcolm Turnbull's clean energy reforms . with tdu
<www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/coal-fight-casts-a-pall-over-malcolm-turnbulls-clean-energy-reforms-20170905-gybbch.html>

September 6 2017 Risk of blackouts in Victoria on the rise this summer, report warns . with tdu.
<www.theage.com.au/victoria/risk-of-blackouts-in-victoria-on-the-rise-this-summer-report-warns-20170905-gybool.html>

Melbourne’s most popular tourist attractions include Federation Square and Queen Victoria Market. [normally Puffing Billy features]. with tdu..
Herald Sun September 6, 2017.
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/melbournes-most-popular-tourist-attractions-include-federation-square-and-queen-victoria-market/news-story/47481150324d13cc646c87fc00f86bfb>