Re: Sydney Light Rail Outage: Overhead Wiring Issues Cause Commuter Chaos In Sydney
  peterm...

Hi Mick,

I have seen slower response time here in Ausgrid Area when I have reported
11kV down Live, it seems at the time your resoursing was good, Is it the
same today up there?

Railways are paranoid - too many managers empoyed from outside the
railways, and with no running line RISI etc experiance.

Yeaes ago with Overhead down at a teenager more aware than others, I have
jumped clear of an over head down train - U boat as they are known with
1500 triping and recolosing, I waited till it tripped and jumped clear and
ran before it reclosed.

But apparently I know to much as a Now electrical engineer.......

Peter

On Monday, 13 March 2023 at 11:35:43 UTC+11 Mick Topp wrote:

> To put this in perspective, some years ago I was a high voltage switching

> operator for an energy utility and my assistant and I got a call saying

> that an 11kV main had come down during a storm onto a car and caravan in an

> industrial area and was still energised as the HV feeder had automatically

> reclosed after the initial fault.

> We were there within 15 minutes and while we ensured that the occupants

> remained in the vehicle which was spectacularly discharging across the wet

> tyres, we ascertained that the fallen main was between the first air break

> switch on the feeder and the substation, so even as we were racing around

> to the sub to open the oil circuit breaker we were calling in on the radio

> to get the switching confirmed in case we had missed something in the

> crappy conditions. By the time it was confirmed we already had the OCB

> opened and disconnected and were back at the air break ready to open it as

> well.

>

> After testing that the main was de-energised we cut it clear of the

> vehicle and made sure that the couple and their kids in the car were OK.

>

> Within 5 minutes the overhead line crew arrived and started repairing the

> wire and we reversed the switching once they had finished.

>

> This all took less than an hour from receiving the call.

>

> A properly set up organisation should be prepared for these incidents and

> have expert crews instantly mobilised.

>

> They squawk about safety but the train incident is ridiculous. A well

> trained driver or guard should know that healthy people could jump clear

> and hop away with no ill effects as long as they didn’t walk normally, or

> they could use a fibreglass ladder or plank to get them out safely. Any

> elderly or infirm passengers could be carried out by a strong, healthy

> person or emergency services person and if they couldn’t, at least they

> wouldn’t be suffocating because the doors would be open.

>

> I don’t think sitting in a sealed train for hours in summer is good safety

> management by the operator.

>

>

>

> Cheers,

>

> Mick in Brisbane who has trained people in this stuff

>

>

>

> *From:*tramsdo...@... tramsdo...@...> *On

> Behalf Of *Matthew Geier

> *Sent:* Sunday, March 12, 2023 9:33 AM

> *To:*tramsdo...@...

> *Subject:* Re: [TramsDownUnder] Sydney Light Rail Outage: Overhead Wiring

> Issues Cause Commuter Chaos In Sydney

>

>

>

> I've been sent a photo of the failed bit of overhead - not at liberty to

> repost so don't ask.

>

> Looks like a piece of parafil or it's attachment gave way resulting in a

> dropper arm hanging below the contact wire in the Chinatown area.

>

> Had the failure not been noticed it could have easily ripped a pantograph

> off making the incident much more complex.

>

> After they started turning back cars at Central Chalmers, apparently one

> of the points at Central decided to die adding to their challenges.

>

> Points failures are happening so often there is a 'points reliability

> enhancement' project underway. Seems the mechanisms are too easily clogged

> up with dirt and sand.

>

>

>

> The Panania incident ripped off a pantograph AND a hatch cover. Not clear

> what order it happened, but they managed to pull down the catenary as well

> as the contact wire.

>

> As passengers couldn't be trusted not to 'self evacuate' into a space that

> had potentially live wires in reach, the passengers had to wait over an

> hour in a train with no ventilation, non openable windows and closed doors,

> till overhead crews could 'safe isolate' the accident site.

>

> It took them most of Saturday to repair the damage.

>

>

>

> On 12/3/23 10:09, Greg Sutherland wrote:

>

>

>

>

> https://vervetimes.com/sydney-light-rail-outage-overhead-wiring-issues-cause-commuter-chaos-in-sydney/

>

> L2/L3 CBD and South East Lines between Central and Circular Quay closed

> for 5 hours 30!

>

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