Great to see that Metro's problems are back in the media again!
Yesterday's Age article about drivers deliberately running trains late stirred up a lot of comments - I think is fantastic that people are so interested. One comment indicated that there is at least one more person out there who is tracking performance on their train line.
There's another Age article today - Metro blaming drivers for participating in a deliberate "go slow" and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union denying the claim:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/metro-blames-train-drivers-for-unpunctual-april-20110427-1dwtr.html
At risk of stirring that pot up even more - my train this morning was going suspiciously slow. For the first half of the journey, the train rarely hit its normal full speed between stations. It was extremely slow in pulling up to and away from platforms. There were lengthy delays in opening and closing doors. And then suddenly, things went back to their normal tempo for the second half of the journey. A cynic might suggest that the driver had already 'banked' 5 minutes of lateness, and that this was enough. Of course, there are other possible explanations.
Anyway - whatever the cause, the train arrived at Flinders Street just over 5 minutes late. And this was on a day when there appeared to be no problems on the line, with even the Richmond to Flinders Street going smoothly.
possible causes of delay; following another train, temporary speed restriction, also take into account weather conditions for xtrapolis trains, they are horrible in wet weather and often skid, i refer to the recent macleod overshoot as an example of what they are generally like in mediocre weather conditions. Therefor its safer to take it easier and not risk that same result. as for doors if it was a series one xtrap, they wont release until the computer has confirmed the train speed is below a threshold of 1-2km, so generally there is a several second delay when pushing door release buttons.
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