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Guys, someone in the railpage forum has announced there will be some test runs of trams on the new extension this sunday 2nd sept. whoa. Can anyone confirm this or know times?

rhino wrote:

skyliner wrote:I know now that when I go to the CBD I will park at Sth Tce and get the tram in and back

Good luck with that. Something we are sadly lacking in that area is carparking, especially all-day carparking.

This begs the question - why make a south Tce link, storage line and a timetable running through the city only if suitable car park provision is not made at this point for tram users. Surely this goes towards making the city more user friendly on the roads, and would help with tram patronage. Appears very shortsighted - why has this happened?

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CITY SKYLINE

Saw a street-sweeper going along the tram extension this morning at 0600 whilst the barriers were down - also at about 0700 saw an old tram and a new tram at the victoria square stop at the same time - unfortunately didn't have my camera with me

skyliner wrote:

rhino wrote:

skyliner wrote:I know now that when I go to the CBD I will park at Sth Tce and get the tram in and back

Good luck with that. Something we are sadly lacking in that area is carparking, especially all-day carparking.

This begs the question - why make a south Tce link, storage line and a timetable running through the city only if suitable car park provision is not made at this point for tram users. Surely this goes towards making the city more user friendly on the roads, and would help with tram patronage. Appears very shortsighted - why has this happened?

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CITY SKYLINE

I think it's more because between City West and South Terrace there is no real room to have a "tram storage area".

The South Terrace to City West service is being done more for operational reasons rather than just serving the busiest parts of the CBD. They could turn southbound trams around at Victoria Square, but then a third platform or track would need to be constructed to allow for turnarounds (which would be an ineffective use of space of Victoria Square). The other option would be to force trams to offload and terminate at the existing southbound platform, then run empty to Gouger Street, have the driver change ends and then drive northbound through the crossover, but this would foul the southbound track and limit capacity while this occurs.

This sort of manouvere (the technical term is shunting) is done in Melbourne everyday of the week. A couple of weeks ago when the new Victoria Square stop was opened, I saw 108 do exactly that. It pulled into the UP platform, driver changed ends and drove onto the DOWN line, changed ends again and went into the DOWN platform. This whole process took at most 4 minutes.

Even though we now have a lay by siding at South Terrace, we will still have to have tram shunt there for the return run to City West because the points are at the southern end of the platform.

Confirmation for the test runs.

AdelaideMetro wrote: Full Tramline Closure, Sunday night 2 September - substitute buses provided

The entire Tramline will be closed on Sunday night 2 September from 8.30 pm to first service Monday 3 September due to testing of the new Tramline extension between Victoria Square and North Terrace. Trams will not operate from the following times:

From Victoria Square, City to Glenelg:

The last Tram service will depart from Victoria Square at 9.10 pm.

From Glenelg to Victoria Square, City:

The last tram will depart from Glenelg at 8.30 pm.

A substitute bus service will operate during this time. Normal Tram services are expected to resume from first service Monday, 3 September.

For further information please visit http://www.dtei.sa.gov.au/tramextension, call the Tramline Extension Information Line on 1300 884 047 or the Adelaide Metro InfoLine on 8210 1000.

Photos from today

http://photos.galoresoftware.net/main.php?g2_itemId=355

There's been some activity at the tramline / South Rd crossing over the past couple of days.
One block south of the crossing, a new street sign with the wording "Tram Station" has been put up, pointing west.
This sign will lead (after a considerable walk) to Stop 11 which is the next stop towards Glenelg.
I've recently noticed research people taking note of tram passenger movements and as this point is a noted tram/bus swapping point it would appear that something is going to happen.
Two things come to mind:
1) The major works to do with the South Rd/Anzac Hwy underpass are about to impinge on this area, leading to the temporary loss of the down stop.
2) The upcoming flyover may cause the loss of stop 10 for good (unless it will be on the flyover).
In both cases there will be significant effect on passengers and they're gathering data accordingly.

What do you all think?

Hust a reminder to locals that if all goes as planned, sometime between 9pm tomorrow night and 4am Sunday morning, a Flexity & H Type will be testing the full length of the extension.

See you all there!
Bill

9pm tomorrow night and 4am Sunday morning

Wouldn't that be either 9pm tonight or 4am Monday morning?

normangerman wrote:

9pm tomorrow night and 4am Sunday morning

Wouldn't that be either 9pm tonight or 4pm Monday morning?

It'd be great to see a tram passing on the extension at 4pm in the arvo for testing, but it ain't gonna happen.

AG wrote:

normangerman wrote:

9pm tomorrow night and 4am Sunday morning

Wouldn't that be either 9pm tonight or 4pm Monday morning?

It'd be great to see a tram passing on the extension at 4pm in the arvo for testing, but it ain't gonna happen.

Whoops

Sorry people
Testing is planned for Sunday night, the 2nd of September, until 4am on Monday the 3rd.
Too much excitement !
Bill

BillD wrote:Sorry people
Testing is planned for Sunday night, the 2nd of September, until 4am on Monday the 3rd.
Too much excitement !
Bill

I'll try to be there

I'll be there without of doubt, this is history in the making. The very first rail movement down the new extension. Because the rails are going to be cleaned shiny with the trams themselves, there are going to be a lot of sparks coming from the wheels of the trams and because it is going to in the dead of night, it will make for some very good photos.

One thing that does have a hold of my mind is how will the media report this?