More Trains, More Services - Stage 2

[swtt]

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the ... 5756d.html

Hundreds of extra train services will run through Sydney’s Inner West and T8 Airport lines every week under a $1 billion plan to increase peak-hour capacity by as much as 80 per cent on parts of the city’s transport network by 2024.

The NSW government will set aside the money in Thursday’s half-yearly budget update to bolster the existing rail network capacity in time for the Metro City and Southwest’s opening.

The plan will take existing services from the soon-to-be converted Sydenham to Bankstown line and funnel them into the T2, T8, T4 Illawarra Line and South Coast line. It will also include funding for new trains, however the government is yet to finalise a contract.

Morning peak services will increase by 80 per cent at the Domestic, International, Mascot and Green Square stations on the T8 line, while an extra 4800 customer spaces will be created on the Inner West Line, with a train expected every three minutes.

Services will also increase by 30 per cent, with space for 6000 more customers, on the T4 Illawarra Line. Non-peak services between Wollongong and Sydney will jump from hourly to half-hourly.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the government needed to “future-proof” the network in a sign the state anticipates strong resurgence to its public transport network post-pandemic.

“Moving Bankstown Line services to the new standalone metro system removes an existing bottleneck and frees up capacity to deliver more services on other lines where it’s needed,” he said.

“One billion dollars in funding ensures we’re future-proofing the existing rail network to keep pace with demand.”

While patronage has recently pushed close to 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, the network spent much of 2020 operating at or below 50 per cent.

“The vaccine is going to change things and people are going to get their confidence back,” Mr Constance said.

“It’s going to be a major step forward in returning to a more normal way of life, and that is going to have an impact on our public transport patronage.

“We’re already seeing numbers on the rise, and they will return to pre-pandemic levels.”

The planned increase in train volume comes after the Berejiklian government committed $880 million to a digital upgrade of signalling on the two lines in the 2018 state budget.

Upgrades are being made to rail infrastructure including stabling yards, signalling, track, station platforms and power supply between Central, the T8 Airport Line tunnel and the South Coast.

A digital upgrade to signalling enables trains to travel closer together and increases frequency.

Automating protection systems on trains and tracks is also designed to allow trains to run at higher speeds while improving safety and reliability.

In 2018, then Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins – who is now the acting Transport for NSW secretary – said digitally upgrading the network was what helped increase London’s Tube capacity from three to five million people.

The funding will be allocated under the state government’s ‘More Trains, More Services’ fund, which will begin in 2022.

[boxythingy]

Aren't some aspects of this announcement a reannouncement? 1/2h off peak frequencies to Wollongong are long overdue and efforts to improve infrastructure to increase speed will not be started under the program either.

[Scott4570]

In respect to the article, Andrew Constance made the following statement:-
“Moving Bankstown Line services to the new standalone metro system removes an existing bottleneck and frees up capacity to deliver more services on other lines where it’s needed,” he said.

Given that some years ago, they untangled the Network, where is the bottleneck that currently exists ?

[Glen]

It releases paths around the City Circle, to begin with.

[Jurassic_Joke]

https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/projec ... e-services

New trains are also being delivered as part of the program including 42 additional New Intercity Fleet carriages

So when are these actually going to enter service? Late 2019, target not met. Then late 2020, target was on track to actually be met, but then someone had a whinge and now its late again, new target is instead early 2021, we haven’t heard since and we’re nearly into the third month of 2021.

From the perspective of a ‘customer’ putting aside politics on both sides and just wanting the new trains, it is a really bad look that we keep getting promised these new trains that have all the latest tech and then the goalposts keep moving. The V sets have been good but they can’t run forever.

[Geo101]

How many extra "paths" will they be able to feed into the T2 local? The article mentions "More services on the T2 Inner West Line, with an extra four services in the peak".

Currently 8tph (Homebush/Parramatta all stoppers & Leppington semi-express), plus the two extra Ashfield short starters @ 08:00 & 08:30.

Is this a result of reinstating/rerouting the Liverpool to city via Lidcombe services? You would have to expect that if these run every 15 minutes, they would be the extra four services in the peak? No doubt as full as they would be running via Granville.

Am I in the ballpark?

Peak: 4tph (Parramatta) 4tph (Leppington) + 4tph (??)

Parramatta and Leppington services will become semi-express, and there will be 4tph from Ashfield or Homebush perhaps?

[swtt]

Parramatta and Leppington services will become semi-express, and there will be 4tph from Ashfield or Homebush perhaps?

Semi express = skips Croydon and Macdonaldtown There's no more room for this unless headways are reduced from 3 to 2 min (20 trains/hr --> 30 trains/hr)....

[boronia]

From the perspective of a ‘customer’ putting aside politics on both sides and just wanting the new trains, it is a really bad look that we keep getting promised these new trains that have all the latest tech and then the goalposts keep moving. The V sets have been good but they can’t run forever.

I don't think too many customers are concerned. On social media at least, very few want the rear facing seats,and there is a fear that the seats will be too uncomfortable for the longer journeys. Mea culpa.

[Route548]

Is this a result of reinstating/rerouting the Liverpool to city via Lidcombe services? You would have to expect that if these run every 15 minutes, they would be the extra four services in the peak? No doubt as full as they would be running via Granville.

Parramatta and Leppington services will become semi-express, and there will be 4tph from Ashfield or Homebush perhaps?

I suspect those 4 trains an hour will be Liverpool to City via Regents Park which lines up to the government's preferred option once the Bankstown line is completely converted to Metro. If I am a betting man, it will be:

4 x ex Liverpool
4 x ex Parramatta
8 x ex Leppington (rough estimate based on the current timetable)
so 16 trains an hour on the Inner West with 12 via Granville then throw in 4 tph from Ashfield to pick up the crowd from Ashfield onwards.

I suspect ex Liverpool will be the express from Lidcombe and Parra will retain all stations while Leppington will remain semi-express as it is now..

[Aurora]

In respect to the article, Andrew Constance made the following statement:-
“Moving Bankstown Line services to the new standalone metro system removes an existing bottleneck and frees up capacity to deliver more services on other lines where it’s needed,” he said.

Given that some years ago, they untangled the Network, where is the bottleneck that currently exists ?

Yes the City Circle. In the peak of the peak, there is no space to insert additional services with trains every three minutes. Any remaining leeway is very minimal. With Bankstown moving to Metro those trains will be fed into the Airport line.

[Transtopic]

How many extra "paths" will they be able to feed into the T2 local? The article mentions "More services on the T2 Inner West Line, with an extra four services in the peak".

Currently 8tph (Homebush/Parramatta all stoppers & Leppington semi-express), plus the two extra Ashfield short starters @ 08:00 & 08:30.

Is this a result of reinstating/rerouting the Liverpool to city via Lidcombe services? You would have to expect that if these run every 15 minutes, they would be the extra four services in the peak? No doubt as full as they would be running via Granville.

Am I in the ballpark?

Peak: 4tph (Parramatta) 4tph (Leppington) + 4tph (??)

Parramatta and Leppington services will become semi-express, and there will be 4tph from Ashfield or Homebush perhaps?

There are currently 14tph in the morning peak on T2 (8tph semi-express ex Leppington via Granville, 4tph all stops ex Parramatta and 2tph all stops ex Ashfield). I understand that the Inner West Local has a maximum capacity of 16tph with the mixed stopping pattern. The City Circle Outer (via Town Hall) is at its maximum frequency of 20tph (14tph T2 and 6tph Bankstown) and the City Circle Inner (via Museum) is operating at 18tph with 2 spare paths (10tph T8 Airport Line, 4tph T8 via Sydenham and 4tph Bankstown). There will be 12 spare paths per hour available on the City Circle with the current signalling when the Bankstown line is converted to metro and up to 20 spare paths with the digital signalling upgrade (24tph per line). With the exception of the T8 Airport Line, the T8 via Sydenham and T2 services can be distributed across the City Circle branches via the Central flying junctions, a masterful concept by Bradfield in the planning for the City Underground.

When Minister Constance says that an extra 4tph can be added to T2, it depends on whether he means with the existing signalling technology or the upgraded digital signalling. 20tph would be possible with existing signalling with an all stations pattern and 24tph with the digital upgrade. 20tph seems more likely with a mixed stopping pattern and the digital signalling upgrade, which would equate with the suggested frequency of a train every few minutes. The proposed frequency upgrades are somewhat ambiguous. Based on the digital signalling upgrade and a mixed stopping pattern on T2, I would suggest that the pattern could potentially be 6tph semi-express ex Liverpool via Granville, 6tph semi-express ex Leppington via Regents Park, 4tph all stations ex Bankstown via Regents Park and 4tph all stations ex Parramatta. Ashfield starters/terminators dispensed with. There's no doubt that there could be other variations to the frequency patterns for each service.

[Geo101]

Scott4570, Route548 and Transtopic my apologies for the substandard research prior to posting...

Currently at Ashfield city bound between 8am - 9am there is the following:

08:00 Ashfield all-stops (plat 4)
08:04 Leppington all-stops
08:07 Parramatta all-stops
08:12 Leppington all-stops
08:18 Leppington semi-express
08:22 Parramatta all-stops
08:27 Leppington semi-express
08:30 Ashfield all stops (plat 4)
08:34 Leppington all-stops
08:37 Parramatta all-stops
08:45 Leppington all-stops
08:48 Parramatta all-stops
08:55 Leppington semi-express

So:

2 x Ashfield turnback all -stops
4 x Leppington all-stops
3 x Leppington semi-express
4 x Parramatta all-stops

13 tph (hopefully I've got it right this time)

[Transtopic]

Scott4570, Route548 and Transtopic my apologies for the substandard research prior to posting...

Currently at Ashfield city bound between 8am - 9am there is the following:

08:00 Ashfield all-stops (plat 4)
08:04 Leppington all-stops
08:07 Parramatta all-stops
08:12 Leppington all-stops
08:18 Leppington semi-express
08:22 Parramatta all-stops
08:27 Leppington semi-express
08:30 Ashfield all stops (plat 4)
08:34 Leppington all-stops
08:37 Parramatta all-stops
08:45 Leppington all-stops
08:48 Parramatta all-stops
08:55 Leppington semi-express

So:

2 x Ashfield turnback all -stops
4 x Leppington all-stops
3 x Leppington semi-express
4 x Parramatta all-stops

13 tph (hopefully I've got it right this time)

You've almost got it. If you count the number of trains departing Ashfield between 07:30 and 08:30, it's 14tph with an extra Leppington semi-express service. It's the same in counting arrivals at Central between 08:00 and 09:00 which is regarded as the busiest one hour peak. Just BTW, the Leppington áll-stops' services also skip a few stations.

TfNSW hasn't yet revealed the frequency and stopping pattern proposed for the reinstated Liverpool via Regent Park service, but it's currently 6tph for Liverpool via Bankstown with a mixed stopping pattern. It could be 4 or 6tph with either an all-stops or mixed pattern between Liverpool and Lidcombe. Although I suggested an all-stops service from Bankstown to the CBD via Lidcombe, they could just run the shuttle service from Bankstown to Lidcombe as initially proposed and reinstate the Ashfield starters/terminators. In time, all will be revealed.

[verbatim9]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlIvxK6DMlY

[verbatim9]

^^Extensive interview regarding the New NSW Intercity train rollout.

[rogf24]

That's a media conference, hardly an exclusive interview.

[Fleet Lists]

It said extensive - not exclusive.

[Jurassic_Joke]

Also how are we meant to believe that these flashy new B sets, which we’re now getting quite a few of, are some kind of exclusivity to the City Circle routes? And that for the other lines, well, that’s that for them?

Might be over 90% similar to A sets which I see aren’t ageing that well, but still has the appealing “new” factor, the S sets are all gone as are now the C sets, B sets are still arriving and they still insist on restricting them to these select few routes in normal service. Now T4, I understand, the power supply upgrades aren’t there which is another story, but T1 and T9, as far as I know, what’s the big deal? And we know they can operate the line because I’ve seen it on the very off chance. A and B sets should be interchangeable and they should distribute the new trains in a more fair way tbh. It stinks to high heaven in my opinion

[Aurora]

Also how are we meant to believe that these flashy new B sets, which we’re now getting quite a few of, are some kind of exclusivity to the City Circle routes? And that for the other lines, well, that’s that for them?

[...] B sets are still arriving and they still insist on restricting them to these select few routes in normal service [...], but T1 and T9, as far as I know, what’s the big deal? And we know they can operate the line because I’ve seen it on the very off chance. A and B sets should be interchangeable and they should distribute the new trains in a more fair way tbh. It stinks to high heaven in my opinion

lol, pretty childish reasoning there IMO. Streamlining of sets within certain sectors makes crew qualifications and training more efficient.

BTW, As and Bs are interchangeable, but you have to remember there are no C or K Sets on T1/9 hence no immediate need to permanently roster Bs in that sector. They only appear if operationally required on the day due to other factors.

[rogf24]

It said extensive - not exclusive.

My bad

[Transtopic]

I've noticed that there's a mix of A and T sets on T9 as well as the ocassional B set. I don't have a problem with that. I think that there was a plan to transfer all T sets to T4 after refurbishment, but I don't know if that's still the case. From previous comments, there seems to be some doubt about whether the T set upgrade will proceed.

[YoYo]

Transport for NSW release on the 27th - cannot see that this has been posted previously.

More Trains, More Services

Reviewed 27 Feb 2021

The More Trains, More Services program will simplify and modernise the rail network creating high capacity, turn up and go services for many customers. It means customers can expect more frequent train services, with less wait times, less crowding on a simpler and more reliable network.

More than $5.3 billion is being invested in the program, which has already delivered 24 new Waratah Series 2 trains and more than 1700 additional weekly services since 2017.

Key benefitsMore services for the T8 Airport Line, including an 80 per cent increase at Airport stationsA 30 per cent increase in peak services on the T4 Illawarra Line, with extra services from Cronulla, Waterfall and HurstvilleMore services on the T2 Inner West Line, with an extra four services in the peakMore services on the South Coast Line, meaning a service every 15 minutes in the peak and every 30 minutes in the off peak between Wollongong and the Sydney CBDNew trains are also being delivered as part of the program including 42 additional New Intercity Fleet carriages and 17 extra Waratah Series 2 trains.

Click the below downloadable fact sheet with image of the network changes.

https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/system ... V2_WEB.pdf

[Scott4570]

As from March 1, on Weekdays, the Timetable calls for the following Suburban Rosters:-

T1 & T9: 17 x 8T sets, 53 x 8A sets.
T4: 29 x 8T sets, plus 2 x 4T sets work South Coast Port Kembla Services.
T2, T3 and T8: 33 x 8B sets, 19 x 8A sets, 11 x 8M sets, 12 x 8K sets.
T5: 6 x 4M sets.
T7: 2 x 4M sets.