A brief history of Connex
Oscar and I ran yesterday and today for my training program. Yesterday we did 5km in 0:24:10 and today it was 8km in 0:39:02. Both these runs I did when I got home after work and they were a little bit of a struggle to get motivated. Though I did appreciate the effort once I had finished the run and arrived back home.
I am also doing training at work but I will have to give a brief history of my workplace and public transport in Melbourne to explain.
I have been employed with the railways since 1990 and driving trains since 1991. For those that don't know Victoria's public transport was quite extensive. Trams, trains and busses were all operated by the government and was called the Public Transport Corporation (PTC).
In 1997 we had a change of government and it was decided that the PTC would be split up and franchised out to private companies. The trams where split into Swanston and Yarra Trams. Country trains were divided into Passenger and Freight companies and the suburban trains where divided into Connex and MTrain. I found myself working for MTrains and no longer drove on the Connex side of the train network.
Things were going fine until December 2002 when National Express, the overseas company that operated MTrains, decided it was no longer viable to operate trains in Melbourne. They abandoned their franchise, customers and staff and headed back to the United Kingdom. The government then stepped in and operated MTrains until Connex reclaimed the whole network in April 2004 and everyone was back in the one happy family.
But now we have MTrain drivers who haven't driven on the Connex lines in over 8 years and Connex drivers who haven't driven on the MTrain side. There has been some changes to both sides, and it is a little hard to stop a 300+ tonne vehicle at stations that you don't remember being just around the corner, or at the bottom of the next hill.
We are in the process of teaching drivers the old lines again and this week it is my turn. For the past two days I have been getting up early, catching a train into the city and learning the old lines. Yesterday I did the Belgrave and Lilydale lines and today it was Hurstbridge and Epping. It has been quite a trip down memory lane and a interesting experience. I even spotted a Coolrunner running in Croydon on Tuesday and posted it on the non race Coolrunner sightings post.
I am also doing training at work but I will have to give a brief history of my workplace and public transport in Melbourne to explain.
I have been employed with the railways since 1990 and driving trains since 1991. For those that don't know Victoria's public transport was quite extensive. Trams, trains and busses were all operated by the government and was called the Public Transport Corporation (PTC).
In 1997 we had a change of government and it was decided that the PTC would be split up and franchised out to private companies. The trams where split into Swanston and Yarra Trams. Country trains were divided into Passenger and Freight companies and the suburban trains where divided into Connex and MTrain. I found myself working for MTrains and no longer drove on the Connex side of the train network.
Things were going fine until December 2002 when National Express, the overseas company that operated MTrains, decided it was no longer viable to operate trains in Melbourne. They abandoned their franchise, customers and staff and headed back to the United Kingdom. The government then stepped in and operated MTrains until Connex reclaimed the whole network in April 2004 and everyone was back in the one happy family.
But now we have MTrain drivers who haven't driven on the Connex lines in over 8 years and Connex drivers who haven't driven on the MTrain side. There has been some changes to both sides, and it is a little hard to stop a 300+ tonne vehicle at stations that you don't remember being just around the corner, or at the bottom of the next hill.
We are in the process of teaching drivers the old lines again and this week it is my turn. For the past two days I have been getting up early, catching a train into the city and learning the old lines. Yesterday I did the Belgrave and Lilydale lines and today it was Hurstbridge and Epping. It has been quite a trip down memory lane and a interesting experience. I even spotted a Coolrunner running in Croydon on Tuesday and posted it on the non race Coolrunner sightings post.
posted by Spark Driver at 7:35 PM
3 Comments:
At what point do you leave Oscar at home. I can imagine one fit dog at the moment and I bet he gives you no trouble at night, he'd be too stuffed.
For the public transport system, did privatisation really work? Was it better in the good ol days?
Go Oscar!
Welcome to my constant world of training!
Good stuff SD.
I think the Melbourne trains run quite well in my limited experience.
Also whenever you talk about having a run at work i imagine Swanston St station so it seems like the world is a smaller place!
Hope this refamiliarisation doesn't stress you out though!
Cheers R2B
Post a Comment
<< Home