The SquizLog

More Sydney Rail Chaos

"Passengers for all stations to Wyong, there is a train on platform 10 leaving in three minutes", came the stern announcement.

The rail system was, yet again, in chaos. I had been sitting on the 5:56pm from Central to Wyong for well over an hour when that announcement came. It seemed like a good bet. The previous announcements had all indicated that we must wait "until a driver turned up to make the train work". So the faint promise of a train leaving any time soon was a sufficient lure for me to pack up my laptop and rush across to platform 10. Alas, too many had beaten me to it and the train was full! The few of us that had missed crowding onto that train then quickly rounded on a platform attendent, her bright orange railway-employee-identifying top acting like a magnet.

Fortunately for her, within minutes there was an announcement that the train on platform 14 would form the late-running 6:47pm. So, off we went, not entirely convinved. We were, after all, being directed back to the train from where we had come! But yes, this train, which had been waiting since at least 5:45pm (when I first joined it), did finally make its way slowly out of the platform at 7:05pm. And, as I write this, it is still making its way towards the Central Coast.

I'm wondering what time I'll end up arriving home. I don't think it's ever taken me four hours to get home before. Normally, I'll accept anything up to two hours each way. After all, I have chosen to live on the Central Coast and work in Sydney. But when I left the office at 5:10pm this evening and descended the nearby escalator to Wynyard station only to discover that the trains were again stuffed, my heart sank. Another lengthy trip home beckoned.

It's now 7:53pm and we've just stopped at Berowra. This sad excuse for a railway system is getting boring.

Later: I did eventually make it home to Kariong a mere 3 hours and 40 minutes after leaving the office.

Posted to Personal by Keith Pitty