The haze at Britomart from the diesel fumes. I can’t wait for the day when we only have electric trains stopping at the station.
Speaking of electric trains, reader Gianfranco sent me these photo’s showing our second electric train being unloaded yesterday. Have also heard that testing on the first EMU is going well and they have even had it up to just over 122km/h – although the trains won’t run that fast with passengers on board.
A single electric train would be able to carry more people that all of the cars in that last photo (at normal occupancy rates).
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A single three-car or a single six-car? If it’s a three-car, that’s quite the damning image.
Single three-car. Quick estimation is that there is about 150 cars in the picture. With an average occupancy of 1.2 per car that would equate to 180 vs the capacity of an EMU at 375 (including standees)
Even at a very optimistic 2 per car it’s still more.
Matt
Why are you using average occupancy of a car and comparing it to capacity of a EMU.
If you compare capacity of 150 cars at say 4 people that’s more than a EMU.
Average occupancy of a car at peak times is 1.2. I don;t know what the occupancy of trains at peak times is but I’d guess it is better than 50%.
Because that is the normal occupancy of each. Average occupancy of a car in Auckland is 1.2 people at peak times. Average occupancy of a train in Auckland at peak times is ‘full’.
There is a point talking about the maximum capacity of trains because trains can and do fill up. However, nobody in the history of the world has been able to fill up commuter traffic. Four people per car on average simply never happens under normal conditions.
Of course if you look at the average train off peak its about 50 people and the average bus is about 10.
Except that we don’t build transport capacity for off peak do we SF?
Yep, it’s actually a bit higher than that on most routes (good routes stay quite busy across the day but the average is brought down by others that run basically empty between the peaks) but certainly not anything like full peak occupancy…
Off peak the occupancy of a car is still about 1.2,
Actually sailor boy we do. Ive told you this about 50 times before but we design transport systems for more than the one peak trip at each end of the day.
How quickly did security come and tell you to stop taking photos, Gianfranco ?
He said it was from his apartment
Oh, I read too quickly – I thought that he had taken the Britomart photo.
No that was me. Security are generally ok as long as you’re not taking photos for professional purposes.
It’s a public space, paid for with my rates & tax money. Why should I not be allowed to take photos wherever I want in such a space (assuming I don’t photograph up the skirts of someone, or enter non-public areas while taking photos)?
At least we aren’t in the US or Britain, where shooting photos of public stuff can get you arrested for terrorism…
I agree Max. As I said it is only if photos are being done for professional purposes that they get upset.
Are there sections of track that have a speed limit which allows 122km/h, or are the laws more relaxed around rail speed? I also dont understand why some speed limits are as low as they are on sections of track in Auckland – I find it frustrating that we have these new fast trains, but I have seen no changes which address that they cant reach even 100km/h over a huge portion of the network (please correct me if im wrong).
I believe that parts of the network are to have their speed limit increased to 110km/h for the new trains.
I understand Kiwirail had to give special permission for it to happen (and the same thing happened in Wellington with the Matangi’s) however as Hamish noted there will be some sections getting a speed limit increase after electrification has finished. I know out west some sections are going from 80-90km/h
Are there any public records of air quality measurements inside Britomart Station? Must be pretty bad.
It’s also quite common to get a face full of diesel exhaust exiting the southbound train at Newmarket, as you ascend the escalators just as the adjacent loco revs up to start moving off. Cough.
I’ve always been unhappy that AT do not want to put any seats upstairs at Newmarket for people because they want the area clear so you either wait at the square (weather dependent) or down at the windy, noisey, diesel-fume area of the trains.
The trains going electric is a very good thing, especially for those who have to breathe their toxic and carcinogenic (cancer causing) fumes. We need to do the same with our buses, which can be run as hybrids or electrics with a minimum of cost. We need to change the spec to get the filthy diesels off the road – sometimes it seems like they’re putting more particulate onto an arterial than everything else.
What are the dark green vehicles in the second photo? Presumably army, but they don’t look like Unimogs or any other vehicles I’ve seen locally.
Good spotting. The one beside the ship is a standard Mercedes truck. The obscured vehicles look like the new “Medium Heavy Operational Vehicle”. These might be the first five which arrive early for training.
http://www.nzdf.mil.nz/news/media-releases/2013/20130521-tddditf.htm
Here’s some video. They look pretty cool. https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7vQbrw5SJ02Y2VCU004dnEwSEE&usp=sharing
Perhaps we should give over acquisitions and implementation of transport plant to the NZDF 😉
Presumably the chunky roof is some sort of aircon?
NZ generally buys off the shelf military gear and releasing it in to service seems to be a pretty easy process. The exception to this is ships, where the Clark government decided to buy an Irish Sea ferry design and turn it in to some sort of weird cross between a freighter and an amphibious assault ship… with obvious resulting problems. On the other hand, the Australian military seems to want to customise everything for “local conditions” and to build it in Australia, and most of their procurement projects turn in to complete disasters.
The lesson for public transport? Trains are always going to involve a high degree of customisation due to the lack of international standards for platform heights, gauge, and electric systems. You need to manage the procurement for this complexity and risk. And, whatever you do don’t listen to Clare Curran and let a group of people with little-to-no experience building modern trains try and design and build them in Dunedin.
From everything I’ve heard the specs on the EMUs are really high by world standards and we benefited greatly by having some senior people running the project that specialise in rolling stock procurement. Overall the project seems to be going quite well which is a vastly different outcome to HOP.
Yes, I’m pleasantly surprised by how well that side of the project is going. It was a rather silly dig at other things.
Great comment Obi.
I can assure you that the EMUs are truly world class having recently visited the factory. For example the painters said that the paint spec we are getting is at the extreme top end of the spectrum and that dark blue in particular is a chemically very demanding to get right. Very good for our maritime climate.
This is very pleasing as it really looks like, for once, we are doing it right first time. By comparison at same time I saw new cars CAF are building for Bucharest that looked, to my admittedly untrained eye, like a much less sophisticated product.
Yes obi you’re right about customisation, especially meeting NZ’s electricity safety requirements (the low voltage internal stuff). Aircraft have the same problem, in fact I think I’m right in saying that they don’t/can’t comply with NZ regulations, eg because the aircraft body is used as a return path. But exemptions can be given of course subject to suitable safety systems being in place.
I look forward to EMU #1 making an appearance at Newmarket over the next day or so.
Good thing you managed to get another “We can’t do stuff ourselves” dig in, obi – and so nicely hidden in a “It’s only for our best, we do only want the best, don’t we?” guise, just like the government does whenever they are selling us out.
Rinse and repeat, until we have lost our last manufacturing. Hey, somebody else can build the trains and computers, we can always sell them milk. What a depressing attitude.
obi: “And, whatever you do don’t listen to Clare Curran and let a group of people with little-to-no experience building modern trains try and design and build them in Dunedin.”
The “liitle-to-no experience” remark is rather a silly, unjustified slur, and you appear not to have seen or ridden in KiwiRail Scenic’s new Wellington-designed Dunedin-built AK cars – a world-class experience.
I think you’re right. They have the same squared-off looking front end with windows that are almost rectangular, but not quite. I didn’t know we were buying new trucks, but the Unimogs must be pretty worn out by now.