News & Discussion: Adelaide Metro Trains

[Llessur2002]

People cross roads all the time, often not at a controlled crossing, let alone a pedestrian overpass or underpass. If someone gets hit by a car, it's generally considered to be the fault of the pedestrian, not the driver of the car. But for some reason, if some idiot walks in front of a train, it's the fault of the infrastructure. Should we all be protected from ourselves, or should we take some responsibility for our actions?

How much "responsibility" is required for a person (perhaps aged or disabled) to predict whether a train will come at speed round the bend in the time it takes the pedestrian to cross two or three tracks?

The crossing in the north parklands where someone was killed a few years ago does not have a nearby road level crossing to give audible warnings of a train coming round the bend. I can think of others near road crossings, but I'm not sure I'd want to try to complete crossing if I had started from the other side just before the bells started.

This problem could be eliminated by select targeting of crossings which do not have a clear line of sight for a suitable distance in both directions. The vast majority of crossings that I can think of are on straight stretches of track which should present very minimal problems with crossing safely.

[RetroGamer87]

^ Maybe so but I still don't like stuck behind freight trains when I'm trying to get to the station from the west side of the Gawler line.

[Llessur2002]

^ Maybe so but I still don't like stuck behind freight trains when I'm trying to get to the station from the west side of the Gawler line.

^Another issue that only affects certain crossings and could be specifically targeted for improvement.

[rev]

I know this isn't exactly metro trains news, but seems most relevant place to post..

Adelaide-Melbourne fast train service on Spanish company's wishlist
NEWS
A Spanish high-speed train manufacturer proposing a passenger rail trial between the Adelaide Hills and city is also interested in running a service between Adelaide and Melbourne, South Australia’s transport chief says.


Spanish company Talgo wants to bring its trains to South Australia. Photo: EPA/Divyakant Solanki

Department for Infrastructure and Transport chief executive Jon Whelan told state parliament’s Budget and Finance committee on Monday that Madrid-based manufacturer Talgo had expressed interest in running a high-speed rail service between Adelaide and Melbourne.

He said it was “no secret” that Talgo wanted to trial their trains across Australia, with the company aiming to “show their technology across the world”.

“They would like to take this further [with] the potential to take to Melbourne or further across the eastern states,” he said.

“That is their aim – to be able show their technology across the world.”

A spokesperson for Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis told InDaily that Talgo, through their local representative, had “raised the long term possibility to examine the viability of running a fast train between Adelaide and Melbourne”, but no formal approach had been made.

Whelan and Koutsantonis met with Talgo and the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism in Madrid last month.

InDaily contacted Talgo for comment.

The only passenger train service connecting Adelaide to Melbourne is The Overland. That service has been operating for over 130 years, with the 828-kilometre trip taking 10.5 hours.

Talgo is currently in discussions with the state government to trial its railcar technology on a 55-kilometre line between Mt Barker and Adelaide.

The company has estimated that its trains could complete the trip in around 45 to 50 minutes, making it a potentially attractive alternative to driving or buses, particularly in peak times.

Whelan told the parliamentary committee that it was now up to Talgo to seek accreditation to run its trains on the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC)-owned rail line between Mt Barker and Adelaide – a process which could take longer than 12 months.

“We are fully supportive of Talgo to run a trial, but… they need to get the approval and the accreditation to run their equipment on a train line that is not in government hands,” the department chief said.

“They’ve got to secure the funding, which they haven’t secured that from the Spanish Government. We’re working closely with them on that.

“Then, they would need to source a train operator and a locomotive to be able to pull their carriage.”

Talgo has previously said that the trial would come at no cost to South Australian taxpayers, with the required $2.5 million to be obtained via a Spanish Government grant scheme.

A spokesperson from the Department for Infrastructure and Transport told InDaily that Talgo was still in the process of applying for the funding.

“All parties are continuing to engage collaboratively to facilitate the trial,” they said.

“Ultimately the provision of funding is a matter for the Spanish Government.”

Whelan told the parliamentary committee that Talgo trains could reach speeds in excess of 200km/h, but Australian locomotives “probably cap out at about 160-165-kilometres an hour”.

“In the last meeting I had with them they put up some proposals of a locomotive from the UK, but it is run by an operator, so they would need to get that operator involved to also get that accreditation to also operate on ARTC’s line,” he said.

Asked by SA Best MLC Frank Pangallo if Talgo had expressed interest in manufacturing trains in Australia, Whelan said: “I think they’d really certainly like to have an opportunity to bring their skill set, but also their structures, and infrastructure and bodies that could operate on a network Australia-wide”.

“That’s what they do – they go all over the world looking to sell their carriages,” he said.

https://indaily.com.au/news/2023/03/28/ ... -wishlist/

[PeFe]

The state Labor government has announced a deal to return the management of trains and trams to the public service after it was outsourced by the previos Liberal government.

From the ABC

South Australian government announces deal with Keolis Downer Adelaide to scrap trains, trams privatisation



The South Australian government says it has struck a deal to scrap the privatisation of train and tram services.

The Labor government announced on Sunday that it had signed a deal with train operator Keolis Downer Adelaide (KDA) and tram operator Torrens Connect to hand back operations by 2025.

That move fulfils an election promise by Labor to reverse the former Liberal government's privatisation of tram services in 2020 and of train services in 2021.

While the contracts were for an initial eight-year term, with an option to extend, the government yesterday said it would not pay early termination fees of up to $94 million.

However, the government will pay about $36 million over the next two years to cover what Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis described as "mobilisation costs, not compensation costs".

"These are costs we would pay at the end of the contract anyway to bring it back into public hands," he said.


Premier Peter Malinauskas and Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis say the deal fulfils Labor's election promise.(ABC News: Viki Ntafillis)

Mr Koutsantonis said that amount would cover the costs of purchasing intellectual property, physical assets and retraining, accreditation and legal fees.

"These are costs — like training, hiring, purchasing IP, management systems, ticketing issues, [and,] of course, scheduling systems — all the things you need to run a modern railway service on top of paying the contract, which we do each and every year."

In a statement, KDA said it would hand back operations to the government by January 31, 2025, but would continue to handle customer service and security management until June 2027.

KDA also said it would manage the maintenance of fleet and infrastructure until 2035.

Mr Koutsantonis said KDA would receive a "good contract" for the maintenance of the train system, but said he did not have the exact cost to hand.

"Like our buses, like our other public services, we don't run all of the maintenance for our hospitals and our schools. They're run privately," he said.


Under the arrangement, Keolis Downer Adelaide will handle maintenance of the trains.(ABC News)

Mr Koutsantonis said about 130 public servants who were currently "unassigned" since the privatisation, would be "re-offered jobs back into our public sector".

He said public transport was an "essential service" that "belongs in the public control".

"We can take the profits of our rail and tram service and reinvest them back into a public good," he said.

Speaking ahead of the announcement on Sunday, state Liberal MP Matt Cowdrey said feedback had been that the service had "actually improved" since the privatisation.

"The trains have always been owned by the people of South Australia, simply operated by somebody else," he said.

"If that has not changed, if the operation in some aspects is still being undertaken by this company, then it is clear that the South Australian Labor party has broken [its] promise to the people of South Australia," he said.

Mr Cowdrey also said any arrangement with KDA that "hasn't gone to an open tender process clearly provides the potential for lost savings and higher cost to South Australian taxpayers".

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-02/ ... /102177190

[ChillyPhilly]

Some decent political manoeuvring by the State Government. Operation of trains returns to public hands, with Keolis Downer instead being offered the contract for maintenance at $30m a year. It is a 'take it or leave it' deal.

Will be curious to hear where the trams come into this conversation, with them being operated by Sealink.

On a side note, Matt Cowdrey's comments that public transport 'has never been better' and that this is reflected in feedback, are utter garbage. I'll try to find it, but the feedback report was pretty bad, with some fairly consistent complaint types.

[Llessur2002]

Anecdotally, the maintenance of my local station has improved markedly since KDA too over infrastructure maintenance. Graffiti is normally removed within a couple of days with, as far as I know, nobody reporting it. Under DIT it would sometimes takes weeks of reporting to get someone to paint over it. I personally feel the trains are cleaner as well and there are more cleaning staff visible at ARS. Based on this I'm fairly happy to see KDA retain that side of the contract.

[Eurostar]

Anecdotally, the maintenance of my local station has improved markedly since KDA too over infrastructure maintenance. Graffiti is normally removed within a couple of days with, as far as I know, nobody reporting it. Under DIT it would sometimes takes weeks of reporting to get someone to paint over it. I personally feel the trains are cleaner as well and there are more cleaning staff visible at ARS. Based on this I'm fairly happy to see KDA retain that side of the contract.

Well seeing as patronage has declined , its fair enough that trains are kept clean after all no one wants to board a tagged up and dirty train.

[ChillyPhilly]

Anecdotally, the maintenance of my local station has improved markedly since KDA too over infrastructure maintenance. Graffiti is normally removed within a couple of days with, as far as I know, nobody reporting it. Under DIT it would sometimes takes weeks of reporting to get someone to paint over it. I personally feel the trains are cleaner as well and there are more cleaning staff visible at ARS. Based on this I'm fairly happy to see KDA retain that side of the contract.

KD will want to shore up depot security then, because the number of tagged trains has increased.

[Llessur2002]

Anecdotally, the maintenance of my local station has improved markedly since KDA too over infrastructure maintenance. Graffiti is normally removed within a couple of days with, as far as I know, nobody reporting it. Under DIT it would sometimes takes weeks of reporting to get someone to paint over it. I personally feel the trains are cleaner as well and there are more cleaning staff visible at ARS. Based on this I'm fairly happy to see KDA retain that side of the contract.

KD will want to shore up depot security then, because the number of tagged trains has increased.

My comment referred more to the maintenance of our local station but I've personally only seen one heavily tagged train in the last year or so and that was a couple of weeks ago. I remember prior to COVID and KDA's contract it felt that every other train rolling into ARS had NY subway style art on it. Might just be coincidence and I've missed them though.

[Brucetiki]

Anecdotally, the maintenance of my local station has improved markedly since KDA too over infrastructure maintenance. Graffiti is normally removed within a couple of days with, as far as I know, nobody reporting it. Under DIT it would sometimes takes weeks of reporting to get someone to paint over it. I personally feel the trains are cleaner as well and there are more cleaning staff visible at ARS. Based on this I'm fairly happy to see KDA retain that side of the contract.

KD will want to shore up depot security then, because the number of tagged trains has increased.

My comment referred more to the maintenance of our local station but I've personally only seen one heavily tagged train in the last year or so and that was a couple of weeks ago. I remember prior to COVID and KDA's contract it felt that every other train rolling into ARS had NY subway style art on it. Might just be coincidence and I've missed them though.

Wasn't there industrial action involving cleaners around that time, resulting in trains having their graffiti left on?

[Llessur2002]

Wasn't there industrial action involving cleaners around that time, resulting in trains having their graffiti left on?

Ah maybe. It was certainly prolific for a while.

[RetroGamer87]

New seat layout spotted on a class 3000

[Llessur2002]

This is the bike-friendly configuration for trains that are used on the Belair line. I've seen them used occasionally on the Outer Harbor line and think it works quite well even without bikes. Like a subway train.

[abc]

remember the old trains all the seats used to face each other and you had to stare at some stranger's face for the journey duration