(14 Sep 2015, 7:24 pm)aureolin wrote This is why I asked them for number of units, rather than trains. For all I know, they could be saying that one train doing 10 journeys in the day, is actually 10 extra trains.
Which is exactly how its calculated, the numbers sound better than the reality though and besides, there is so many trains you can send down the South Shields stretch before its too much for the substation and that what appeared to of happen on Sunday with the power fault. Unfortunately, the passengers did not help matters what so ever by jumping onto the tracks, one may presume the train was full and there was panic hence the need to escape onto the tracks.
I think some things got to be considered here because its easy to criticize although that said, it does seem better planning needs to be done.
* As i stated, you can only have a limited number of trains from Pelaw to South Shields because if you have too many trains, the OHL will 'trip' because of the extra load and the fact some parts are single track to start off with.
* You need to have the drivers to drive the trains, a driver has every right not to come in on his/her rest day so whilst Nexus may promise extra trains, this can't be fully guranteed because drivers may not show up. There could be some extra incentive financially to come in but if the weather is fine and you want to spend time with your family, I'm sure many would rather do that than driving on what will be a very busy and no doubt stressful system.
* There will always be some sort of delays, there always is and with many trains jammed packed, people are bound to have to let trains go by. I do sometimes think common sence should play a part, why leave it so late to leave especially if your a runner but there you go.
* 3 car trains can't be run as most platforms are not big enough to accomodate 3 car trains and the platform mirrors probably won't allow you see that far.
Just one more point, I do like the photos showing the long ques down King St, I mean, its not like the delays caused those ques, you get those ques every year regardless, perhaps albeit this year, the ques were much longer because of the delays. I do have some sympathy for passengers having to que that long but maybe find an alternative way after the race, for me, I would probably head to Seaburn(long walk I know!) and maybe more could be done to get passengers to Seaburn so it evens out the numbers somewhat.
