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Sent: Sunday, 12 June 2022, 05:26:59 pm AEST
Subject: Thurs.20.1.22 daily digest

Roderick

Thurs.20.1.22 Metro Twitter
Aircraft: No ramp access to platforms until late 2021 (pedestrian-underpass works). [no reopening has been announced yet]
Flinders St: still with a lane closed for tunnel works.
Buses replace trains Westall - Pakenham/Cranbourne until the last train of Thu 3 Feb (works).
19.54 Lilydale/Belgrave/Alamein lines: Major delays (police near Camberwell). Trains in the immediate area will remain at platforms. Trains may terminate/originate at intermediate stations.
- 20.01 clearing.
23.31 Mernda line: Major delays (police). Trains may be held at platforms.
- 0.21 Buses to replace trains Clifton Hill - Mernda.  Buses have been ordered, but may take over 40 minutes to arrive; consider alternatives.
- 0.50 Buses are replacing trains, until the last train tonight.

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"220120Th-Melbourne'HeraldSun'-rail.safety-b.jpg"
 "220120Th-Melbourne'HeraldSun'-rail.safety-c-ss.jpg"
"220120Th-Melbourne'HeraldSun'-rail.safety-d-ss.jpg"

The perils of riding the train revealed.  Tess Ikonomou January 20, 2022
Drunk and disorderly commuters are risking their lives in alarming numbers on Melbourne’s rail network, even as passenger numbers plunged in lockdowns.
video: Rail danger Thousands of trespassers are putting their lives at risk across Melbourne's rail network.
Drunk and disorderly passengers placed their lives in danger almost 1600 times over the past two years, despite the number of commuters catching the train plummeting during coronavirus.
Alarming new Metro figures obtained by the Herald Sun reveal the number of incidents involving intoxicated people spiked to 992 on the network in 2020.
This is up from the 969 drunk commuters caught out in 2019 – with 2020 also recording the highest number of cases in the previous five years.
Victoria’s public transport network saw a reduction of up to 90 per cent in trips during the state’s second wave.
A disoriented man falls backwards off a Melbourne train station platform.
Police and PSOs attend to the man after he fell on to the tracks.
Last year was the quietest for unruly people on trains dating back to 2017, with 601 incidents recorded, including passengers getting stuck in train doors and falling over.
Shocking CCTV footage previously released to the Herald Sun, shows one disoriented man walking off the platform and falling on to tracks, with horrified onlookers forced to reach down and pull him back up.
In another case, a man is seen lying down on the tracks until a group of PSOs spot him and sound the alarm.
A Metro spokesman said the operator’s “No.1 priority” was ensuring everyone got home safely.
“We’re reminding our passengers to be mindful of their safety while travelling on the network, particularly with the return of hospitality and major events across Melbourne,” he said.
“We ask our passengers to please look out for one another, and speak to our friendly staff if they need assistance.”
There are more than 9000 CCTV cameras across Metro’s network, with station cameras monitored in real-time, at all times.
And more than 450 Authorised Officers patrolling stations and trains.
Metro Trains has urged passengers to be careful around tracks.
Last year was the quietest for unruly train passengers dating back to 2017.
Once the Metro Tunnel is completed, platform screen doors will separate the public from the tracks and will only open when services arrive.
Public Transport User’s Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said the data should be used to tailor safety measures.
“Authorities need to investigate why the numbers went up to identify the cause of that and then take action to improve safety,” he said.
“They need to dig into the numbers and see if there are specific times of the day or stations where incidents are occurring to refine their response.”
Mr Bowen said authorities could increase staff at particular stations on the network, and look to introduce platform screen doors at other stations to improve safety.
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/the-perils-of-riding-the-booze-train-revealed/news-story/4e37e016de129ae4bf1c79b4c333805c>
* There is no such thing as a 'booze train'.  Why does the online clickbait editor dredge up such a term? Perhaps 'the perils of riding a train while intoxicated', no worse than the perils of being a pedestrian while walking home from the pub. Riding a train remains safer than driving home.
* Should be a drinking carriage - I'd bet it'd be the busiest one. 
* should be on funniest home videos!
* Join the junkies and drunks on the train into the CBD. Why would you bother?
* God forbid the drunks take any personal responsibility for their safety.
* Architects of their own end.
* Re-grade the platforms to slope AWAY from the tracks.
* that won't cost much. Then you also have to dig up every station and install new drainage when the water pools in the middle of the platform.
* Pretty silly behaviour and extremely dangerous. Just a lemon squash for me guys.
* Perhaps take a second or two to think about how your “lemon squash” moment affects a train driver. I could tell you how that goes in vivid detail if you like.
* Plenty of friendly faces on gippsland line trains with open alcohol yet conductors don't do anything as they are to scared to and and police aren't ever called as it disrupts the services.
* It is worse inside the carriages after 7pm at night....totally frightening.
* They call for help, train is delayed, they get abused. They don't call for help, drunk passengers/other passengers get abusive. So very much "damned if they do, damned if they dont".
* At least pools are registered, inspected and fenced off. Oh wait, one rule for us and one rule for them. Why aren't I surprised. At least they aren't driving... Silver linings. 
* lucky they weren't smoking cigarettes , it could have been disastrous

Sydney looks to cut Victoria’s lunch with second airport.  Roshena Campbell.  January 20, 2022
video Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport metro line announcement. Federal Minister for Urban Infrastructure, Paul Fletcher, NSW Minister for Transport David Elliott, and NSW Minister for Western Sydney Stuart Ayres, make an announcement on the new Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport metro line.
...Nancy-Bird Walton is also set to have a rail link from its opening date.
Who’s paying for all this? Victorians are – at least in part.
The airport is being developed by a federal government-owned entity, with the Commonwealth committing more than $5 billion. Canberra and the NSW government are also jointly funding the connecting railway line.
This should come as no surprise.
For decades NSW has been better than Victoria at getting cash out of Canberra under both Labor and Coalition governments, not only because it has more seats but because many more of them are marginal.
<www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/sydney-looks-to-eat-victoria-s-lunch-with-second-airport-20220119-p59pfh.html>