Category Archives: Transport

Rail Failures: A Question of Protocol

Last night, both V/Line and Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM) commuters were delayed due to various problems with the rail network in Melbourne. Some V/Line customers were heavily affected by a points failure at Southern Cross Station which prevented some trains from getting out of their platforms to start their journeys. On the Frankston line, an […]

Why 13CABS Is Right And Wrong

There has been a lot of talk today about a campaign launched by Melbourne’s 13CABS – (a co-operative consisting of Yellow Cabs, Black Cabs, and a number of other smaller depots) – with respect to a recent taxi industry review, one recommendation of which has been the proposal to introduce unmarked, London-style “mini-cabs” into the […]

State Government Padding Out Announcement?

Who would have thought a government might pad-out an announcement to provide more bang for the buck with the press release? Not you? Yeah, me neither. New Contract Moves Regional Rail Link Into High Gear Amongst the “features” of the new contract, we have: Major bridge modifications at Dynon Road, Moonee Ponds Creek, Lloyd Street […]

Mulder Has No Interest In Where The Buck Stops

Late on April 30th, I finally received a response from my March 8th complaint direct to the Victorian Minister for Public Transport, Terry Mulder, about the state of infrastructure at Newport station. I wrote about this complaint a few days later on the 14th, after failures at Newport on both days. I might add, his […]

Mulder: The Buck Shoots Straight Past Me

Thousands of regular commuters on the Geelong line have had their travel plans massively disrupted on numerous occasions over the last couple of months, with signal and power failures shutting the line for hours at a time. People – (quite rightly) – have been complaining long and hard about it. It is apparently news to […]

Trains: Who’s Right and Who’s Wrong?

I’ve made a bit of noise of late over the state of some of the infrastructure in Melbourne’s train network – namely with respect to the consistent problems at Newport Station. I wrote about it here, and have been discussing it here. Much of the usual buckpassing as to who owns the problem has been […]

Call To Arms Against Newport Rail Failures

Geelong’s commuters – (and Metro Trains Melbourne’s Werribee and Williamstown commuters) – have endured another bout of “Newport Induced Delays” in recent weeks, with numerous power failures and “track equipment failures” grinding these three train lines to a halt for hours at a time. V/Line Commuters Want Answers After Latest Newport Failure This problem has […]

V/Line Get a Problem Right!

I’m usually the one of the first people to strike out when V/Line commits one of its usual operational-come customer service disasters. Regular commuters will have heard every excuse in the book – usually at the expense of the what the real cause of the problem is. They either don’t tell commuters what is going […]

Experimental Aircraft at Tullamarine?

Either Malaysia Airlines have introduced a new experimental wingless passenger aircraft, or Nearmap have one of those really humourous photo stitching hiccups going on at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport. Torpedo Airlines anyone?

Qantas: One Year in Singapore

Today marks the one year anniversary of the almost disaster that was the second leg of QF32 from Singapore to Sydney, on November 4th 2010. In the midst of the current debacle of last weekend’s 48 hour grounding of the airline as part of ongoing industrial action, it is worth remembering that one part of […]