Details of the proposed Rail Clearways Plan for Sydney's CityRail network have been released by CityRail. RailCorp's Rail Clearways Plan is a $1 billion initiative to improve capacity and reliability on CityRail's Sydney suburban network, presently recognised as one of the more complex in the world. The plan is a response to increasing Government and public concerns with poor performance of services following a period of severe problems caused by staffing shortages, rolling stock unreliability, train shortages due to late deliveries of new carriages and growing congestion. Some of the clearway ideas are quite old and were evident in the Christie Report, while other issues have been becoming evident for years. It has taken the service chaos of early 2004 - with an election looming - to prompt action at a political level. The result was a deferral of major new lines while works were undertaken to eliminate bottlenecks and train path conflicts, and the planned separation of the routes into segregated operating areas (called clearways from the obvious road connotation). This decision was followed by a new timetable in July which introduced some elements of clearway practices.
展开▼
