The Alstom metro trains used in Sydney look weird with the anticlimber buffers at the front. HCMTs are much nicer looking.

Apparently the HCMT is based on a Chinese metro train platform, and the acceleration sound is almost the same as that of a lot of units there.

They used to very occasionally divert freight trains through the Sydney underground and across the harbour bridge until the mid-90s.

youtu.be/InDTmI5L0nM?...

People love new rail infrastructure. We should build much more of it, instead of one-off projects every four decades or so.

Somehow, I don't think there will be nearly as much excitement about the West Gate Tunnel when that is completed.

Why doesn't New Zealand seem to want to have trains? There's just no enthusiasm whatsoever from any level of government or even KiwiRail.

That track diagram above the panel looks insane. Why did they build a pair of stub-end terminals connected to the main line by wye? Surely a through station would have been simpler?

Circular Quay was originally named Semi-Circular Quay because it was originally a semicircle, and the circular part was filled in as the quay was developed. I believe it still had a slightly curved wharf edge when the pilings were put down for the elevated railway station in the 1930s.

That's because no matter how beneficial railways might be, conservative governments always see them like this.

Overhead electrification has to be maintained within tight tolerances otherwise the pantograph would get tangled in the wires

50 kV electrification has only been used four times, all on remote mining railways to reduce the need for substations. 25 kV electrification can achieve similar results using autotransformers, which is what they do in Queensland on the coal railways.

The regional electrified lines around Sydney run through national parks that frequently get burnt by bushfires. If a bushfire threatens the rail corridor they just suspend trains and cut the power to the affected sections.

Why are they saying that electrification is unsafe in fire zones?

They're recommending that people who are currently looking for work become "proficient" in AI to remain "competitive in the marketplace". I am the only person in the workshops I've been attending saying that AI is not what it's cracked up to be and we shouldn't rely on it.

There's someone who drives one of these monster trucks around my neighbourhood, and it has been jacked up so that the top of the bonnet is around 160 cm high. It's taller than most cars on the road, and the driver is aggressive towards pedestrians.

I will have to try to find this in Melbourne then. Good IPAs are good.

Is it a good beer worthy of the name and label?

New Victoria St tram tracks?

I wonder what the issue with the new trains is (apart from being built by CAF, who don't exactly have a reputation for quality).

Any idea when the new CAF units will be in service? This run would make sense because it's both the shortest XPT diagram and also the one with the longest proportion of the route under wire. Might as well use their dual-mode capabilities as much as possible.

I passed by Melton on a Vlocity the other week and the scale of works there is astounding. The new station is slightly south of the existing one so that the majority of the construction can be done without interrupting train services.