Yes, I also like the sound of the motors and gears slowing the train. It gives them character. Modern electronic trains make noises, but nothing like that.
The electrification sure has been extended! It’s been a long time since I was that way, I lived in the southern suburbs although I drove deliveries all over the city. Great vid. By the way.
Don’t skimp. Pretend you are the driver. With the Comeng trains you can usually hear whether the train is powering, coasting or braking. Just listen and put your hands on the controls! 😋
You were right... Watergardens to Sunbury 115km/h ;) One things I've been wondering... do our trains have any sort of capacitors, so if the power drops out, the train can power itself for a stretch? Also been wondering why we need all the pantographs up at the same time. I think each 3 car train has two, and they are always up. Can the train get by on just one? I know the carbon shoe on them can wear out over time. I've seen some damaged pantograph videos, and when it goes wrong it can be pretty spectacular!
If I have any doubt about the answer to question such as train speeds, I check with my two drivers. I don’t believe any trains in Australia have batteries or capacitors to move without overhead wire power. The only batteries Comeng trains have are for the taillights. The new trains may have some battery-powered saloon lights, a feature in Sydney forever. To have less pantographs you must have heavy current cables passing through the train to power other motor cars. That is considered undesirable, not to mention a heavy current draw in the pantographs. You can be certain the engineers have though of all the options and have chosen the best.
@@stopbunsen the X-Trapolis sets are the only ones with a single pantograph for each three car unit, but they are also a far newer design than the comeng
Johnno Gaming xtrapolis’s if running with a pantograph down in half of a 6 car set, batteries power the PIDS, some of the lights, announcements and doors. No air con either. Can be seen in this video by Wongm ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ugBTm3_mbJ4.html
The Level Crossing Removal project is making massive changes to the look of places. When 'After' videos become available there will be a number of Before, During and After videos of various projects.
I used to live close to St Albans station and the old Main Rd level crossing was something the locals were glad to see the back of. There were several fatalities at that crossing and at the Furlong Rd level crossing near Ginifer station where the video started. Both ground level stations at Ginifer and St Albans were totally demolished and put into cuttings under the roads. Apart from the safety aspects those two crossings were major traffic bottlenecks.
I remember St Albans station from the mid seventies when the boom gates used a hand crank. Every morning the Walker train from Daylesford to Melbourne would pass through at 07:40.
I wondered about that too but our driver told me that as part of their training they had to memorise the basic speed limit for every line they drove on (the city centre based drivers must learn all the lines in Melbourne). Speed boards are only placed where there are lower limits.
I agree. I suppose management thinks they are saving money until there is a speed related crash. Anyway I think on most lines it is only 80km/h anyway.
Well if you always caught that train, there’s a good chance that on one day at least, my friend was driving you to work. You would have had a good smooth ride. I sent your comment on to him 😊
95km from Ginifer to Keilor Downs... With all due respect I have see a number of trains push 110. St Albans Road late in the evening between Albion and Ginifer, I was trying yo keep up with one of them (yes I know I broke the speed limit and risked license and others) but my vehicle reached 110km/h trying to keep up.
Any speeds quoted are the permitted maximum. If some driver chooses to go faster on trains which will go faster, that is his/her choice. A Comeng will not go much over 100 on level track. Have you checked your car speedometer? Often they are set to show a few km/h faster than the actual speed as a road safety measure. Mine exaggerates by 4Km/h.
Dash Cam footage and GPS@@tressteleg1. Using a little mathematics with calculating the number of frames against a particular measured point from Google Earth verifies the speed. They were correct.
Anything is possible but there are no more reasonable sized towns for quite a long way after Sunbury so it is hard to imagine that being necessary, especially when you consider the enormous amount of empty land beyond Watergardens.
I'm In year 8 and want to become a Train Driver when I graduate school, what subjects do you have to do to become a Train Driver? All I read is you have to complete year 12.
Victorian Public Transport Productions i’m pretty sure you don’t need to do any subjects in order to be considered for a role, i’m in year 10 and am also considering being a driver
Year 11 student here, as far as I know, you don't need any qualifications, but it would help to do a Cert III course in Railway Operations, available in a place called Brooklyn, just north of Newport.
Competition is always rather keen with plenty of applicants. I could not say that such a course would or would not improve chances of success. Unfortunately the present company are not terribly nice to work for, but that can change.
No fencing, pedestrian level crossings, level crossings everywhere? Track looks modern, a few k/s from Melbourne it's like a bunch of country towns in the outback, it's the boondocks here.
So who is the 160 km/h limit for? There didn't seem to be anywhere between the sign and Sunbury for the V/Locity trains to get past you. Just one place (Water Gardens?) where it seemed possible, although with some juggling on the outbound side.
Ron in the US? It is only between Sunshine and Sunbury that Electrics and country trains share the same tracks. With careful timetabling it should not be too hard to keep the trains apart. And until that sign all trains have the same speed limit. I’ll ask my driver if he sees any problems.
Ron, here is more info from my driver: “Well, when things are running late then V'line's trains will be blocked just like they've always been. When everything's on time off-peak, the suburban frequency is 20" from the city to Watergardens, 40" to Sunbury so it's usually possible to timetable the V'line far enough behind the spark so it doesn't get blocked. During peak hours with sparks leaving Sunbury on average every 12" (in some cases every 6") then it's just not possible to timetable the Vline to run at track speed. It'll be tabled to follow the suburban by 2 or 3 minutes and the onus will be on the V'line driver to regulate the speed of the train accordingly. A "good" driver will slow down and run on yellow aspects all the way from Sunbury to Sunshine or vice verse. A "bad" driver will fly along and brake hard for the red signal then, maybe, spend a few minutes doing the sudoku until the signal is showing green when he/she will drive fast again until the next red light is reached....”
It was built quite some years ago between Albion and St Albans but as you will see in a later video already posted, it was replaced and moved during the lowering of the tracks below the nearby level crossing. The electrification was extended to Sunbury just a few years ago. I’m not sure where the wires endedbefore that. Maybe Watergardens which is a shopping centre in the Sydenham area.
As I said before, just do your best at school for now. Who knows what requirements will be necessary when you are old enough? I’m glad you like the pair of videos. You can ‘Learn the Road’ from watching them over and over, and you will also need to learn all lines in due course. Werribee is likely to be next but that is several weeks away.
Regional Fast Rail. 20 or so years ago it was decided to upgrade tracks and services principally to Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong and some places beyond. Especially it involved a track segregated track for country/Regional trains from Southern Cross to Sunshine, tracks not used by suburban electric trains.
No. I used to be a Melbourne Tram driver. A friend takes the Driver’s View videos from the trains. I take the tram ones from where passengers can stand.
