Hi Mick
Sorry Mal about the off topic stray.
Locally here with Ausgrid, we had a thin bit of 11kV knocked down in a
thunderstorm, 1 phase broken off.
The 11kV open air switches were opened around the fault and service was
returned to the 2000 odd customers on the feeder via switching of the 11kV
around the fault.
Go back a few years they would also open the 11kV switches in the kiosk
substation and the transformer isolation on the 415V side, and connect the
415V street wiring to the adjacent 3 x 415V transformers with the pole
mounted open air switches.
They would also back feed the telephone exchange site that is off an UG
feed from this kiosk back through the kiosks main 415V buss..
Instead the 415V switches were left open and tagged out of service the
telephone exchange was left on its diesel and the other customers remained
without power for 3 days.
Thankfully my FTTP NBN that comes through the exchange site is on the Genny
back up and UPS. The genny is serviced every month and its still in
immaculate condition.
there is capacity on the 3 surrounding transformers to meet the load for a
few days under emergency working.
I call it pure laziness not to resupply the 415V customers from adjacent
transformers before the crews arrive to fix the 11kV up. I understand if
they want a 415V outage when they are ready to fix the fault.
Peter
On Monday, 13 March 2023 at 18:52:32 UTC+11 Mick Topp wrote:
> Sadly Peter, today it takes much longer.
>
> Once the crew arrives on site, they must have a meeting where tasks are
> individually delegated and assessed against a risk assessment matrix.
>
> When our specialist switching group was disbanded and the duties delegated
> to individual depots as part of multi-skilling the workforce, for quite a
> while the delays were enormous due to lack of experience, local knowledge
> and adequate equipment. There were also fatalities.
>
> For example, we covered the whole of the Brisbane City Council area, one
> of the largest in the world plus adjacent regions, with an average outage
> time of 54 mins per event. This included individual residences as well as
> whole suburbs.
>
> We worked a 24 hour rotating roster and were available to be called in for
> storms and other emergencies because the manager allowed us to take our
> trucks home. This allowed us to go straight to the job and isolate for the
> line crews to repair.
>
> Now if the power goes off during the evening news, you go to bed because
> it doesn’t come back on until well after midnight and in some cases a day
> or two later.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Mick - reminiscing
>
>
>
> *From:*tramsdo...@... tramsdo...@...> *On
> Behalf Of *peterm...@gmail.com
> *Sent:* Monday, March 13, 2023 1:12 PM
> *To:* TramsDownUnder tramsdo...@...>
> *Subject:* Re: [TramsDownUnder] Sydney Light Rail Outage: Overhead Wiring
> Issues Cause Commuter Chaos In Sydney
>
>
>
> 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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