The Connex demonstration layout test train was on public display at Flinders Street Station today.
As a response to booming patronage, the test train features a more spacious layout, more standing room, more thing to hold onto and wider door areas. This comes at the cost of some seats, which have been removed or relocated.
Three cars of the Comeng six car set had the demonstration layout while the remaining three had the current layout. This made it easier for visitors to compare the two, as done in the pictures below.
Existing M car
Modified M car
Existing T car
Modified T car
3 comments:
I happened to catch this train two weeks ago. It is almost exactly the same layout as the Hitachi trains. For me the best bits are the extra poles in the doorways and the ones between the seat backs and the ceiling. It's good to finally have something to hold on to.
Then a few days after that I got on a train in Perth that had a completely longitudinal seating layout. It seemed to handle the Easter Saturday crowd heading to Fremantle very well. Both trains I used that day were the same, I'm certain the trains in Perth still had a more conventional seating layout in September last year.
Why don't we just bite the bullet and start to segregate stock to specific lines. Assign these modified trains to the shorter lines or inner sections of some lines (ie Mordialloc inward, or box hill inward, or whatever) and leave those with more seats for the more time consuming trips.
It wouldn't have to be strict but it would cut down on a lot of complaining of the "I can't get a seat on these new ones at Pakenham and I stand for 60 mins" while alleviating the "I can't even get on the train 4 stations from the Loop/Flinders" problem. Surely not that difficult...?
Try standing all the way from Melb Central or Parliament to Berwick or Beaconsfield before you get a seat while being elderly, crook back, health issues with your legs etc..This sickens me after all, I pay the same fare as a seat holder. Don't rely on good old fashioned courtesy anymore in that a younger person will give up their seat for you..Leave the trains as they are.
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