Hi Tony and all,

I wonder if – although I suppose they do – the mob at TfNSW read these submissions and take any notice of the facts and figures provided??

Bob in Perth

From:tramsdownunder@... tramsdownunder@...> On Behalf Of TP
Sent: Saturday, 23 May 2020 1:25 PM
To: TramsDownUnder tramsdownunder@...>
Subject: [TramsDownUnder] Sydney L2/L3 new timetable

As of 18 May, a new timetable for L2 and L3 is in effect which has reduced the journey time on L2 to 38 mins and L3 to 39 mins. This is per contract, so it won't improve beyond this and this timetable is likely to be permanent unless they change any headways in the future.

https://transportnsw.info/routes/lightrail

These trips are about 5-10 minutes slower (peak/off peak) than the present bus services from the same two points to Circular Quay, so it's going to be a bit of a bloody affair if they go ahead with the bus changes (terminating buses to interchange at the termini of the two lines). But they need to go ahead with this because one of the project objectives is to free up buses to cascade to other services.

It's interesting to compare the performance of these lines with the old tram system which had to contend with heavy mixed traffic through the city from Circular Quay to Moore Park Road, before it got onto reservation, as well as many more stops. CSELR has its own exclusive lanes throughout and far fewer stops. The running times on the present bus system are similar to those of the former trams.

L2

On L2 the 8.5 km end to end journey between Circular Quay and Randwick is done in 38 mins at an average speed of 13.4 km/h.

The former tram covered Circular Quay-Coogee (9.9 km) in 37 mins at an average of 16 km/h. In other words, by the time the L2 tram reaches Randwick, the old tram is already at Coogee Beach!

It's a slightly different story on the run from Central because the old trams had to battle in mixed traffic along Cleveland Street (compared to the new system's easy run along Devonshire Street) and started at Railway Square, whereas now the "Central" stop is on the other side at Chalmers Street.

So in this case, the L2 covers the 5.5 km from Central to Randwick in 19-22 mins (depending on direction - don't ask me to explain that!), at an average speed of 15-17.3 km/h.

The former tram covered Railway Square-Coogee (8.5 km) in 29 mins at an average speed of 17.5 km/h.

L3

It's a similar story on the L3 where Circular Quay-Kingsford (8.5 km) is covered in 39 mins at an average speed of 13 km/h.

The former tram covered Circular Quay-Maroubra Junction (9.9 km) in 36 mins at an average of 16.5 km/h.

From Central, the L3 covers the 5.5 km to Kingsford in 20-23 mins at an average of 14.3-16.5 km/h (depending on direction).

The former tram covered Railway Square to Maroubra Junction (8.4 km) in 28 mins at an average of 18 km/h.

96

It's interesting to throw in Melbourne's 96 (13.9 km) as a comparison. This is mostly street running with some priority and a long section of ROW. The journey time seems to vary over a range of a few minutes but as far as I can see is about 56 minutes. This results in an average speed of about 14.9 km/h. CSELR struggles to match even this timing and is completely thrashed by the old Sydney system. Such is progress with the wonders of modern light rail and its much-vaunted superiority over rattling old trams.

Tony P