Indian Pacific - New Livery!

Hi all!

Just a quick one today.

Last Wednesday i decided to head on over to platforms 1-3 at Central station to have a look at the Indian Pacific and noticed loco NR25 freshly painted in the new MkV Indian Pacific Livery.

I’ll add another couple of photo’s below.

Cheers for reading!

Brand New CAF Urbos 100 for Sydney Light Rail

Hi all!

So i was on my way home from work the other day and while waiting for my bus at Eddy Ave, Central i noticed one of Sydney’s new trams out and about undergoing driver training!

This one was numbered 2127 (photo below)

4 Brand New CAF Urbos 100 Trams will soon run the L1 Dulwich Hill Line.

These Trams are numbered 2125, 2126, 2127 & 2128 continuing on from the Urbos 3 numbers which are numbered 2112 then 2114 through to 2124.

There is no 2113. It is said that there is no 2113 because 13 is a bad luck number and will bring bad luck to those going to The Star.

NIF (Mariuyng) D Sets Not to Enter Service Until Late 2024

Sydney’s new fleet of Intercity Trains known as Mariyung, D Set or NIF (New Intercity Fleet) have had a rough trot.

With over 80 sets currently in Australia not one has entered service.

There are a number of safety issues that need to be rectified including the need for modifications to make the train suitable for Driver & Guard operation.

At this stage the trains are driver operated only until these modifications are complete.

A link to the news video will be added below.

https://youtu.be/Ha148Tb4CYs

In this video you will see and hear in detail what’s happening with these trains.

It is also made clear that these trains are getting the modifications needed and will not enter service until the later part of 2024.

A good thing in a way right?

More time with our V Sets 😁

These trains are way behind schedule due to the precious government making the silly choice to make them driver only.

They were meant to enter service on the:

Central Coast & Newcastle Line in 2019

Blue Mountains Line in 2020

South Coast Line in 2021

The colossal amount of sets here are stored throughout the network at places including

Broadmeadow Yard

Sulphide Junction

Wollongong Yard

Lithgow Yard

Lithgow Loco

Enfield Yard

Chullora Scrap Yard (my personal favourite)

The costs are crazy too!

Storage is exceeding the 10’s of Millions

Modifications will cost nearly a quarter of a Billion!

The modifications, understandably will take a while but at least the ball is finally rolling.

Cheers for reading 😊

Sydney Central Station - New and Improved Platform Numbering

New and improved platform numbering has been added to the newly opened Central Walk at Sydney Central Railway Station.

The Central Walk is a new passageway (spine) that connects passengers to nearly all platforms at Central Station.

When the Central Walk opened the platform numbers were small corflute signs.

The new and large numbers have been added on the Central Walk near escalators up to platforms 16 & 17, 18 & 19, 20 & 21 and 22 & 23.

A V Set at Circular Quay!?

On Sunday 9th January i was out and about in Sydney’s City.

For some reason i checked NextThere to see if anything abnormal was going to pass Circular Quay in the coming hours.

Sure enough a V Set was shown in the list of trains!

So i walked up to Circular Quay to wait for the V Set.

I filmed a number of trains while waiting. About 40 minutes after arriving, there it was, set V14 arrived into Platform 1 bound for Katoomba.

Here’s the video if you want to check it out!

https://youtu.be/UMEuKnasAyI

Cheers for reading! :)

More New Mariyung Trains Delivered for Sydney

On the night of Monday 17th January 2022 two more Mariyung D Sets were transferred from Inner Harbour to Eveleigh.

The new sets are D24 and D124 and were delivered behind locomotive 8049.

The video linked below features the transfer of these sets plus a few other trains at Erskineville station.

We now officially have enough D Sets in Australia to wipe out the V Set fleet.

However this may not happen for some time due to some unresolved issues.

Cheers for reading! :)

Sydney Light Rail - Alstom Trams replacing cracked CAF Urbos 3 Fleet

In mid/late 2021 cracks were found in Sydney’s CAF Urbos 3 Tram Fleet.

The Urbos 3 trams ran the L1 Inner West Light Rail Line until these cracks were found.

All of the Urbos 3 fleet were pulled from service meaning the closure of the L1 line for approx an announced 18 months with buses replacing trams.

In late 2021 a solution was discovered.

The L2 Randwick and L3 Kingsford Light Rail Lines use Alstom Citadis X05 trams.

The solution is to use some of the Citadis X05 fleet on the L1 line.

Some alterations had to be made as the Citadis X05 fleet leave a gap between the tram and the platform at L1 stops.

The Citadis X05 fleet should start taking passengers along the L1 line in the first quarter of 2022.

These trams will run until the Urbos fleet have been repaired.

The Urbos fleet were transferred to Randwick Light Rail Depot for storage and future repair.

This video shows a couple of Citadis X05 units on the L1 Inner West Line.

New York City Subway R32 Cars Retired

Hi all!

From 1964 to 1965 the Budd Company build 600 stainless steel subway cars for the New York City Subway.

These cars were known as the R32 and R32A type.

They were also known as “Brightliners”.

The R32 cars were numbered 3350 to 3649 and the R32A cars were numbered 3650 to 3949.

As of the night of 1/11/2020 New York time the remaining R32’s were retired from regular passenger service.

Some may be seen out on movie trains.

I dare say some will be kept for heritage trains.

I have heard some have been stored so that if they really really need them they can use them however that’s doubtful as more of the new R179 fleet enter service.

The photo provided shows a trains made of R32 type cars on a C line train at Fulton Street station on 28/5/2019.

For videos on the R32 cars and much more please visit this playlist of videos filmed by me on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-OFdIVf0YcabCNgG3tcgVU0tQDHvZo7j

More new Series 2 Waratah B Sets On The Way!

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone is staying safe during these crazy times.

A friend sent me some interesting photo’s of the first of the second batch of Series 2 Waratah B Sets at the CRRC ChangChun Railway Vehicles Company in China.

We will be getting 17 new sets which will be numbered B25 through to B41.

These photo’s mainly show B25 however in one photo we see another set in the background which at a guess is B26.

Here are some interior photo’s.

Photo credit: CRRC Chanchun Railway Vehicles Company
By the looks of things we will see the first of the new sets in Australia ready for testing in the coming weeks.

Thank you for reading.

B23 Has Hit Something?

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all doing well.

It thought i‘d make a quick blog post about something I noticed on Series 2 Waratah set B23, carriage D1123.

It seems to have hit something as the skirting is now yellow like an A Set Waratah instead of the silver/grey like B Set skirting usually is at the front under the ditch lights, horn and coupler.

Anyone know what happened?

Thanks for reading folks!

Be sure to check out my latest YouTube videos using the link below.

www.youtube.com/sydneytrainsvlogs

Sydney’s New D Sets (NIF) Start Testing

On the night of Wednesday 8th January and morning of Thursday 9th January 2020, NIF D Set D102 set out on the first night of NIF testing between Mount Druitt and Doonside.

This video shows D102 loco hauled by SSR locomotive 44206 at Central then St Marys before we went to Mount Druitt to see D102 run under its own power for the first time on the mainline.

We also see D102 going a decent speed in the video below.

https://youtu.be/3SYGllBNqSE

D102 was also out testing the following two nights.

The NIF (New InterCity Fleet) will replace the V Set fleet.

They will also replace the OSCar H Sets on Outer Suburban runs making the H Sets suburban trains.

Currently we have 4 NIF sets delivered.

These are sets D2, D3, D102 and D103.

Thank you for reading.

Sydney Trains Vlogs.

Sydney Trains: Passenger Information Screen Update

Hi all.

As some of you may have seen, there has been an update to the PIDS (Passenger Information Display Screens) at Sydney Train stations.

Instead of showing the next train and the following train, it now shows the next train plus the following two trains.

The photo above shows the updated screens.

Taken from the concourse at Sydenham station.

Thank you for reading!

Check out my videos on Sydney Trains Vlogs on YouTube by visiting the link below:

www.youtube.com/sydneytrainsvlogs

Sydney CBD & South East Light Rail

Hi all, most of you would have noticed by now that trams have started testing between Central and Circular Quay during the daytime.

The photo above shows Alstom Citadis X05 units 015 and 016 on Eddy Ave on their return run to Central from Town Hall.

Below is a link to my videos showing Sydney CBD & South East Light Rail testing and driver training at various locations.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-OFdIVf0YcapSyChlZYr8STzW9bBeukO

Thank you for reading,

Phil (Sydney Trains Vlogs).

Additional Opal Gates for Central Station

Hi all.

Central station is currently in the process of receiving extra Opal gates near the Grand Concourse to improve access to platforms.

The picture above shows the construction where the gates will be and the picture below is information for passing passengers.

Thank you for reading,

Phil.

Eastern Suburbs Railway Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Hi all.

On Sunday 23rd June 2019 the Eastern Suburbs Railway (ESR) celebrated its 40th anniversary.

As part of the celebrations S Set S54, cars C3001, T4101, T4961 and C3862 ran a special service.

This service ran from Flemington Maintenance Centre to Sydney Terminal, from there it ran to Hurstville before performing a run to Bondi Junction where a photo op etc took place.

The photo above was of S54 at Bondi Junction during this event.

From Bondi Junction this S Set returned to Flemington Maintenance Centre after visiting Hurstville and Sydney Terminal again.

To watch my video on this event please visit the link below:

https://youtu.be/qlAaQSIDVf8

Thank you for reading!

Be sure to check out some of my other blog posts.

Until next time!

Sydney Trains Vlogs

Tangara Technology Upgrade Update

Hi all.

A lot of you have been asking me for an update on the Tanagara Technology Upgrade.

The photo above was in the September 2017 Fleet Update.

This photo was taken inside set T106.

Currently the two sets undergoing the upgrade and trials to do with the upgrade are at UGL UniPart in Auburn.

The sets are T72 and T106.

Testing should start sometime soon with these two sets followed by the entry to service some time after that.

If anyone does have any info, please follow Sydney Trains Vlogs on Facebook and send me a message through there.

www.facebook.com/sydneytrainsvlogs

Cheers,

Phil, Sydney Trains Vlogs.

Sydney Metro Stage 1 Opens 26th May 2019

Hi all.

As a lot of you may have seen in various places already, Sydney Metro Stage 1 opens on Sunday 26th May 2019.

This line includes the following stations:

Tallawong

Rouse Hill

Kellyville

Bella Vista

Norwest

Hills Showground

Castle Hill

Cherrybrook

Epping

Macquarie University

Macquarie Park

Chatswood

At Chatswood people can change for Sydney Trains T9 services to Gordon and T1 Western and North Shore trains.

This line will be operated by the new driverless Alstom Metropolis train which will for now, be 6 carriages long and will run approx every 4 minutes in peak times.

Below are a few links to videos of mine including Sydney Metro station tours and testing of the new trains:

Rouse Hill Station Tour:

https://youtu.be/CgeupYfN6r4

Hills Showground Station Tour:

https://youtu.be/jk-l2sxOqPE

Castle Hill Station Tour:

https://youtu.be/HTNybhBSuM0

Driverless train testing at Chatswood:

https://youtu.be/biRUzV1QVjY

Driverless train testing at Balmoral Rd, Kellyville:

https://youtu.be/1H-TDgcowAU

Thanks for reading,

Phil (Sydney Trains Vlogs)

Sydney Trains Vlogs Reaches 10 Million Total Views!!!

Hi all!

Sydney Trains Vlogs has surpassed 10,000,000 total views.

Thank you all for your support!

The link to my thank you video is below.

https://youtu.be/AZahpY0W5cc

Cheers,

Phil, Sydney Trains Vlogs.

Sydney Trains Vlogs: Waratah A42 Returns to Servie

Hi all.

Waratah set A42 which was damaged as a result of hitting the buffers at Richmond station Platform 2 in January 2018 has returned to service.

It returned to service in late March 2019.

D6342 being the carriage that hit the buffers is still at Cardiff.

PPTV carriage D6379 is replacing D6342 for the time being.

This set has all new gangways as most of the old ones were damaged in the accident.

In the photo above we see A42 at Central as it leaves Platform 17 for a City Circle service with D6379 being the closest car to the camera.

Below is a couple of showing A42 at Richmond on the day of the accident.

https://youtu.be/gkkFZN2Balg

https://youtu.be/TEDlx4EAhYw

Thank you for reading,

Phil, Sydney Trains Vlogs.

Series 2 Waratah Update

Hi all.

Just a quick update on the Series 2 Waratah B Sets.

Earlier this week B20 entered service.

B21 was delivered earlier in the week.

B14 will be the next to enter service followed by B21.

B22, B23 and the last of the first batch B24 are at Cardiff pending delivery.

The second batch of B Sets B25 to B41 should arrive later this year.

Thank you for reading,

Phil, Sydney Trains Vlogs.