Where is the single deck trains coming into this?
It came about because @sims asked the question/demanded an answer of my throwaway one liner about Pendolinos.
Taking this back to the original news item, it is my view, that a combination of:
- An improved alignment
- Overtaking facilities withing Sydney
- Vehicles with a higher top end speed
- Tilting vehicles (with perway upgrades to match)
... a South Coast service with a transit time of under 60 minutes is both practical and achievable within the budget suggested in the news article.
For this I've used the 1890 alignment, and the contemporary Pendolino series train specification as low bar reference for what is not only possible, but what has been reliably achieved here and elsewhere (despite
@simstrain's endless claims that it's "not possible", "nothing can be done", "I know everything ... " etc)
There are several unknowns, for which the required information is either not public, or requires significant research by appropriately qualified experts, not the collective wisdom of an RTBU meeting, or Railpage for that matter.
These issues include:
- The feasibility of tunnelling in the area around the Metropolitan and defunct Coal Cliff collieries.
- The cost of level crossing removal at Woonona, Corrimal, Ununderra, Dapto and Albion Park
- The likely impact on patronage
The need to address the blatant shortcomings of this route is just so obvious, but the pushback from "experts" like
@simstrain (who is unfortunately all too representative of the attitude of those charged with sustaining our railways) results in proposals like the ocean viaduct being made seriously in the NSW State Parliament.