On Thu, 8 May 2014, Brian May <brian@microcomaustralia.com.au> wrote:
On 8 May 2014 12:10, Peter Ross <Petros.Listig@fdrive.com.au> wrote:
Yes, but to achieve it, all four tracks are completely reserved. They are fed by more than one line each (they all split further out) and every disruption will immediately cause a backlog piling up.
Not sure what you mean here. All 4 loops are already completely used. No point having a loop unused.
If you want to have any reliable service then you need to have some redundancy to cover problems. You could either have all loops not used to capacity or an extra loop that's not used in normal operation. If the rate at which trains enter the system is greater than they can go through it then delays will continually increase. So when you have all loops used to capacity and a problem in any loop at the start of peak hour then you will have an increasing number of delayed trains through the normal peak hours and for some time after peak hours have ended. There are some situations where a lack of redundancy can be excused. For example last time I checked there was only one track between Lillydale and Mooroolbark stations. When there's a problem in that section it's not difficult to use buses to bridge the gap (even at peak times trains in that section are well below capacity). -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/