Sydney Rail Tunnel system

[mick taylor]

I seen the Sydney Rail tunnel system on TV. very interesting.

Does any one have something to say on the subject.

I do not live in Sydney I am looking at the thought of such down their or anyone who has knowledge on the subject.

I knew nothing of this was going on.

[Peter B - CV8]

New tunnels - or some of the older /disused ones ??

[Blue_XR]

Are you referring to the Sydney Metro train tunnels?

This is already up and running for a small section of the track, to be completed by 2024 I think. Hopefully they will open up the line to the city before then. The trains are driverless and in my opinion they are really good.

[roKWiz]

I really don't get NSW planning.
As someone who grew up in Sydney and uses Sydney public transport system often, (when I'm there) I don't get why they wanted to use a whole different rail network that wasn't compatible with the current double decker system.
This stupid driverless single deck system required them to close and rip up all the existing track and infrastructure which was only previously finished several years earlier (Epping to Chatswood)
They build a railway line single decker to a dead end at Castle Hill along a rail corridor which was perfectly running well as a double deck line from Hornsby to Chatswood underground via Epping, Macquarie Park etc and on into the city then out to Richmond.
Logically, ideally building a full double decker line to and through Castle Hill to Richmond would have given them a loop which returned vuia the western Blacktown line. The could have continued the dead end line at Carlingford tunneling through (2mile !!!) to Epping giving them a second major loop.

With these loops Sydney's second airport (which is already there) at Clarendon (Richmond RAAF) could have had plenty of public transport options via train from most suburbs in the city.

The money they would have saved designing these two loops on the current network design ie double decker standard trains, would have afforded them to build a railway line down along the northern beaches which people have been crying out for since I was a kid growing up there.
Along with the now close Newcastle line from Hamilton Glady's railway hacks have become a joke.
Back in the 80s it took 2 45 mins from Central station to Newcastle beach by train now it takes 3 20mins (if your lucky) to get to Hamilton and your not even in Newcastle. You then board buses to Newcastle.

Rant..... over and out

[Citroënbender]

Spot on. The Carlingford line closure was a disgrace and I’m certain reflected dodgy property deals. Not unlike the old Putt-Putt site.

Next they’ll be reinstating that useless ornament, the monorail.

The whole system is so stupid; so inflexible and incompatible. It’s as though we are taking our “Top Tips for Transport” from corrupt third world countries and serving up glossed-over malfunction, repeatedly.

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

I really don't get NSW planning.

It's easy Mate.

He with the Biggest Kickback Wins..

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Spot on. The Carlingford line closure was a disgrace and I’m certain reflected dodgy property deals. Not unlike the old Putt-Putt site.

Next they’ll be reinstating that useless ornament, the monorail.

The whole system is so stupid; so inflexible and incompatible. It’s as though we are taking our “Top Tips for Transport” from corrupt third world countries and serving up glossed-over malfunction, repeatedly.

The monorail is an interesting case. I think there is still a station or 2 remaining.

I don't think it ever worked financially as a transport option in the CBD, but I wonder what would have happened if it was offered as a type of slow city tour from above with a sit down meal?

[Trevor 57]

a very interesting documentary series, certainly opened our eyes up to the process of building the system.

And unearthing all the graves and the boat was interesting

[Fed]

I liked the old red rattlers where you could hang out the doors, in fact all the doors were usually left open in the Summertime. Jumping off when the train was still going pretty fast into a station was great fun when you were 10 Years old.

[mick taylor]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

a very interesting documentary series, certainly opened our eyes up to the process of building the system.

And unearthing all the graves and the boat was interesting

How about tunnelling under the harbour in that soft mud ?
Them boring machines are amazing.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by mick taylor

How about tunnelling under the harbour in that soft mud ?
Them boring machines are amazing.

I beleive the harbour tunnel was built in sections on land, sunk into a trench and then the water pumped out, so no real boaring machines used for the under the harbour bit. The only speeding fine and point i have ever lost on my licence was at 520am in the harbour tunnel. Only 1 point, but i was probably asleep at the wheel.

[mick taylor]

Originally Posted by Peter B - CV8

New tunnels - or some of the older /disused ones ??

New I was on about, but even the old tunnels are interesting to me.

I seen on TV of late some huge tunnels that the Nazis made in Norway, some dude went out looking, as he had sort of seen something from the track that he ravelled on and stumbled on to this forgotten tunnel that no one mentioned about, not to mention all the tunnels that the Nazis made in Germany that they have found and they say that they have not found them all yet.

I seen a dude looking for Gold in an old mine in the USA he drove like a size of a Ford F100 12 miles into it and then came to a point that the tunnels fanned out that much that you could get lost down their.

If they could dig like that in the days gone by, what can they do nowadays, journey to the centre of the earth .

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by mick taylor

If they could dig like that in the days gone by, what can they do nowadays, journey to the centre of the earth .

They tried - there is that bore hole in Russia that goes down 12km or something.

At that depth the rock has the consistency of play dough apparently so they couldn't go any further.

Hole looks to only be 8 or 10 inches in diameter as well.

We know more about the far reaches of space than what is below our feet - ironic isn't it?

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by mick taylor

New I was on about, but even the old tunnels are interesting to me.

I seen on TV of late some huge tunnels that the Nazis made in Norway, some dude went out looking, as he had sort of seen something from the track that he ravelled on and stumbled on to this forgotten tunnel that no one mentioned about, not to mention all the tunnels that the Nazis made in Germany that they have found and they say that they have not found them all yet.

I seen a dude looking for Gold in an old mine in the USA he drove like a size of a Ford F100 12 miles into it and then came to a point that the tunnels fanned out that much that you could get lost down their.

If they could dig like that in the days gone by, what can they do nowadays, journey to the centre of the earth .

Mick, have you seen the show on SBS Viceland called Abandoned Engineering? If not, it looks at abandoned engineering projects, including the purpose they were built and the reason(s) why they were abandoned. If you liked the abandoned tunnels, you'll likely enjoy this show too, if you haven't already caught it. Sunday night 18:35 to 19:30.

https://www.freeview.com.au/watch-tv...7-14d78b73fb7b

I find it a very interesting show. Some of the engineering is amazing.

[Feathers]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

The monorail is an interesting case. I think there is still a station or 2 remaining.

I don't think it ever worked financially as a transport option in the CBD, but I wonder what would have happened if it was offered as a type of slow city tour from above with a sit down meal?

What if it had been offered as an actual transport option, and expanded (since it really went nowhere beyond tourist traps).
Rather than close a lot of city streets to traffic for the light rail, elevate it on to the monorail track, and run it above the city traffic.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Feathers

What if it had been offered as an actual transport option, and expanded (since it really went nowhere beyond tourist traps).
Rather than close a lot of city streets to traffic for the light rail, elevate it on to the monorail track, and run it above the city traffic.

Funny thing about the Monorail is, it was just starting to become popular and profitable when the corrupt NSW Gladyshow (she was transport minister at the time) decided to get rid of it.
Tasmania wanted to buy it but, out of spite NSW just scrapped all of it.

Two derelict stations still remain one either side of the Historic Pyrmont bridge, dumb thing is they could have left the elevated section intact over the bridge built entry ramps on both sides and had a great elevated cycleway crossing without all the current problems going on between city commuting cyclists / pedestrians and still had a shaded covering for walker crossing the bridge in summer.
The two station would also be good spots to convert to cafe /bicycle shop for previously mentioned cyclists.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Funny thing about the Monorail is, it was just starting to become popular and profitable when the corrupt NSW Gladyshow (she was transport minister at the time) decided to get rid of it.
Tasmania wanted to buy it but, out of spite NSW just scrapped all of it.

Two derelict stations still remain one either side of the Historic Pyrmont bridge, dumb thing is they could have left the elevated section intact over the bridge built entry ramps on both sides and had a great elevated cycleway crossing without all the current problems going on between city commuting cyclists / pedestrians and still had a shaded covering for walker crossing the bridge in summer.
The two station would also be good spots to convert to cafe /bicycle shop for previously mentioned cyclists.

Exactly... the infrastructure should have been re-purposed. It was there, and in very good condition. What a waste of good hardware.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Exactly... the infrastructure should have been re-purposed. It was there, and in very good condition. What a waste of good hardware.

Yep, like any state public transport system, no governments actually asks the people who use it what they need.

NSW runs a system which doesn't interconnect with anything else.
They run a bus network in regional towns that runs independently to a train network so nothing meets each other and they wonder why there isn't much patronage on certain routes.

NB.
example 1.of stupidity.
There is a bus service that runs from Woy Woy station on the Central Coast to Patonga (peak times) that misses the Patonga to Palm Beach ferry service by 5 mins. Next ferry is 3 hours. Commuters have constantly complained that more uses would use it to get to the upper Northern beaches for work if it connected. But no one is listening for the last 15 years.

example 2 of stupidity.
Sydney to Newcastle trains regularly are held up at Gosford which make them run so because they run late, some clown decides, "its running late so we might as well stop at non stopping station" making them even later.
Classic express train turned into a all station train.
making it late to meet any Hunter Valley line train.

example 3 of stupidity.
XPT from Albury (Melbourne) trains pulls into central at 8pm every night missing the North Coast XPT by 20mins.
Which calls for an overnight stay in Sydney.

example 4 of stupidity.
Express trains constantly timetabled to follow a freight train. This one is brilliant piece of work.

[.:4:.]

I know its slightly off topic, but i finally looked up whats dping since the carlingford line has been removed but there is a lot of work going on to the area its been removed from. Theyre putting in a light rail from carlingford to westmead. So more services then to old single set of tracks when it was the train, and that line was pretty pathetic at the best of times. When i lived in carlingford its only use was so save tge hassle of parking at rosehill gardens for boat shows etc. If i had to public transport it into the city the m2 bus was way faster. But extending the light rail to go past parramatta makes more sense because when that train line went to clyde only, from memory, clyde didnt get any express services to the city.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by .:4:.

I know its slightly off topic, but i finally looked up whats dping since the carlingford line has been removed but there is a lot of work going on to the area its been removed from. Theyre putting in a light rail from carlingford to westmead. So more services then to old single set of tracks when it was the train, and that line was pretty pathetic at the best of times. When i lived in carlingford its only use was so save tge hassle of parking at rosehill gardens for boat shows etc. If i had to public transport it into the city the m2 bus was way faster. But extending the light rail to go past parramatta makes more sense because when that train line went to clyde only, from memory, clyde didnt get any express services to the city.

Light rail is slow, pointless and doesn't have any capacity, they could have simply bored underground from Epping (like they said they were going to do when I was growing up in Carlingford) to Carlingford station using the exiting infrastructure then it would have made a practical loop both out to the west or around to Bankstown line figure 8.

Light rail is a feel good warm fussy thing.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Light rail is slow, pointless and doesn't have any capacity, they could have simply bored underground from Epping (like they said they were going to do when I was growing up in Carlingford) to Carlingford station using the exiting infrastructure then it would have made a practical loop both out to the west or around to Bankstown line figure 8.

Light rail is a feel good warm fussy thing.

I agree that lightrail is slow and small, but upgrading to what appears to be 2 sets of tracks seems to make a bit more sense then the 1 2 car thain that only ran a handful of times a day. The epping link i do agree would have been a much better solution.
But atleast for the most part, its not on the streets. The light rail ruined the city for people like my who needed to drive in the city and surrounds for work. If i spent all day over the easy side of the cbd, fine, all day on the west side of the cbd, fine. Chopping and changing between the 2 sides and crossing george st multiple times in a day, well thats a major annoyance. It was bad enough when they took away oodles of street parking for the bike lanes.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Funny thing about the Monorail is, it was just starting to become popular and profitable when the corrupt NSW Gladyshow (she was transport minister at the time) decided to get rid of it.
Tasmania wanted to buy it but, out of spite NSW just scrapped all of it.
.

Looks like Gladys on the way out.

[Citroënbender]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Looks like Gladys on the way out.

You might have called it prematurely the other week, but this overbought land purchase will be hard to explain:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-...-rail/12881058

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

You might have called it prematurely the other week, but this overbought land purchase will be hard to explain:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-...-rail/12881058

The other land deal (with her secret boyfriend) was exactly what I was referring to back then. but anyway it would be good to see another crooked NSW Prem go.

[kaniSS]

Originally Posted by hayseed

It's easy Mate.

He with the Biggest Kickback Wins..

Don't forget to build 2 lanes when 4 is required then give your mates the additional 2 lanes job 10 years down the track for another kickback.

WIN WIN !!!