9 car sets – I wish !!!

Unfortunately, platforms are built for 6 car sets only – even at PUG and EQY.

Perhaps an issue but also perhaps not.

Trains are full to standing loads only in that short period – say – 7.00 to 9.00 am, and again at 4.00 to about 6.30.

However the maximum anyone is on a train is 48 mins to Mandurah, and 42 minutes to Butler, and the standing loads are somewhat clear from about Cockburn Central in the south and Whitfords in the north.

There are trains in the morning and afternoons at 5 minute intervals Whitfords to Cockburn and 10 minutes from there to the end of the line.

Off peak trains run at 15 minute intervals all day till after 9.00 pm then every 30 minutes.

So, IF there were 9 car sets, for how long would they be used to capacity?

My gut feeling is that the Govt could provide free PT travel, free cups of tea or coffee and hot toast or similar, and the I dots would still travel in their cars because it is more convenient, listen to the radio, talk or text on the hands free (I know – how does one text on hands free? but the morons will try anyway), and still pay anywhere from $15 to $25 per day for parking.

Bob in Perth



From:TramsDownUnder@... [mailto:TramsDownUnder@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 9 August 2017 11:38 AM
To:TramsDownUnder@...
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Stubborn motorists! - was:Re: FW: snippets, Wed.14.6.17

Channel 7 Perth did a rerun of the Clarkson-Perth trip three years later in 2015 and found the PT trip even faster still, about 8 minutes faster! 1 hr 2 mins for about 36 km including the bus, transfer and walking, about 20 mins faster than the car journey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaArj_zjRtc

13,000 people a day on the Joondalup line compared with 46,000 cars (average something over 1 point something people per car perhaps?) per day on the parallel Mitchell Freeway. 11,000 a day on the Mandurah line compared with 94,000 cars per day on the parallel Kwinana Freeway. Wow. Perth's train patronage has grown from about 8 million ppa in 1990 to about 65 million today, so there's no doubt the fast journeys have had a huge benefit, but still a very long way to go.

Since the earlier report, more trains were (a nd have since) been delivered, but I think the Barnett government made some improvements to the road system during those years (including extending the Mitchell Freeway to north of Clarkson) which probably encouraged more to drive again. It seems crazy to do this, but it's the pattern of these political decisions right around Australia. At least in WA they work on the railway as well, not just the roads as is the case in NSW, but they won't truly make gains for PT unless they constrain the road capacity. But then you get this sort of publicity justifying motorways:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_fXCCpNEeg

One other positive sign in Perth is that I understand that about 40% of trips to and from railway stations are made by bus, which is I believe an Australia-leading figure as there is normally a typical reluctance to use fe eder buses in Australia. This figure in Perth is in spite of provision of huge carparks at railway stations. This would be down to the intensity and coverage of the bus system as well as the easy connectivity at stations.

Bob may be able to advise on this, but I understand that the Mandurah-Joondalup lines stations are built for 9 car trains. I don't know whether PTA intends to expand capacity to that level in the near future but, if they did, they would then be the largest-capacity urban trains in Australia. The new Perth Stadium and existing Perth Station platforms also provide for this length of consist. The Sydney metro design also provides for trains to be expanded in future to a capcity somewhere near this as well.

Tony P