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.