Xtrapolis Vs Comeng

[Admet75]

Last weekend I ventured out to Werribee Zoo with my lovely wife we caught the train and then a bus from Werribee. The train ride using the Xtrapolis from Southern Cross to Werribee limited stop was okay until after Newport and even before that we noticed it swung alot along the way especially over points. I don't know if it was the track or the train itself that was at fault. However, returning we had a Comeng and it was a smooth ride? Can someone please explain the differences.

[1whoknows]

We dont call em Xcrapolis for nothing.

[Heihachi_73]

Just like most of Victoria's train tracks, the Werribee line has been asre since forever. Even a Comeng or Siemens with brand new bogies (including airbags, shocks and bushings) bounces all over the place on bad track.

Like with every other train, there are good X'Traps and there are bad X'Traps. The bad ones ride just as terribly on their own turf (Burnley/Clifton Hill groups) even at low speed e.g. 60 km/h, and you will hear the worn-out suspension bushings clunk while feeling every single bump and mud hole (X'Traps don't have platform-height gouges in their sides for nothing - in fact, an Up X'Trap clobbered platform 2 at Ringwood in 2015 on day 1 of the station having been rebuilt). Disc brake Comengs also make clicking noises when the bushings are shot - tread brake cars with worn shocks also make a ton of noise through the airbags(?) as well, whenever I hear the sound of a tread brake Comeng bouncing on rough track it reminds me of someone spamming the Howzat button in Super International Cricket.

[VolgrenFTW]

Xtrapolis have coilovers whereas the other makes have airbag suspension.
A smidge advantage of these sets are that they accelerate the quickest of all other trains. They have higher top speeds too, but the benefits of that won't be realised until a comeng wipeout is done.

[Bennett2]

I have noticed that too! The Xtrapolis trains seem to sway more, especially after Newport, while the Comeng rides feel smoother. I think it comes down to differences in suspension and build quality.

[Heihachi_73]

No doubt that airbag suspension is smoother than coil springs, but no train will glide over poor quality track that was last maintained half a century ago. V/Line's loco-hauled sets also had coil springs (N set bogies being a slightly different/improved design over the Z/H sets' Commonwealth bogies - not sure if Z cars and H/Harris cars had the exact same bogies though, but they look almost identical to the untrained eye).

The worst of the worst however is an X/Trap with bad shocks/bushings. Or a broken coil (yes, it happens). Nothing like being on a train which is travelling on its bump stops express from Richmond to Box Hill on third world track. Click, thump, thud, screech etc. without even adding the noise of flat rails, the Comeng-esque whirring of the rails the rail grinder half destroyed, or the clickety-clack of failing welds and/or jointed track which is amplified even more if it has concrete sleepers (wood absorbs a lot of the noise), or the bump-bump-bump of wheels that turned into 50c pieces following light rain. Bad X'Traps even bounce and lurch in the City Loop of all places.