Monorail success

Press, 10 November 1988, Page 12

Monorail success

By

ROD DEW

SYDNEY has nudged itself into the twenty-first century a little ahead of time with the introduction of its futuristic TNT Harbourlink monorail rapid-transit people mover. The system became fully functional in May this year and is upholding ali the high expectations held of it. Some controversy raged over the scheme for the monorail when it was first proposed, and there were criticisms when the aerial trains proved unrealiable when they first began running. But the system is now widely accepted for what it is — a very efficient and popular means of linking the sAust2 billion Darling Harbour entertainment and cultural complex with the central business district of Sydney. The monorail, a steel box girder track supported 5.5 m above the ground by steel columns, can carry up to nine trains on its 3.6 km loop at one time. It can comfortably move more than 5000 people an hour, and can increase this number to 7500 if necessary. The number of trains, each consisting of seven cars, varies depending on the demand. They are designed to run unmanned under computer control, and automatically keep a safe distance apart. The normal speed of the trains, which each can carry up to 170 passengers at a time, is 33km/h. They can slow, stop, and accelerate back to normal travelling speed in less than 40 seconds..

For SAustl, a passenger can make the round trip, which takes between 12 and 15min, or get off at any one of the six stations along the route. Several are still under construction and two more are planned. Ticketing is fully automatic,

with machines at each station accepting money, giving change, and issuing the ticket. The electric trains are almost silent, and unobtrusive as they glide on rubber tyres above the busy city streets. And even the supporting columns, which looked so ugly during construction, are now. hardly noticeable. Each one in the business area is surrounded by a small garden plot and the clever use of morrors and paint gives the columns, set every 30m, an attractiveness of their own. ■

In a remarkable merging of nineteenth century and twentyfirst century technology, the monorail passes over the Pyrmont bridge, which has been fully restored as part of the Darling Harbour reconstruction. The monorail has been constructed in\such a manner that the bridge can still swing open for the passage of large vessels. The monorail sevice is temporarily interrupted while a section of the track swings with the bridge. The funding and building of the monorail were done by TNT Bulkships, and the company now runs the system at no cost to the state Government of New South Wales. A profit-sharing arrangement returns 30 per cent of the fare revenue, '< less reasonable running costs, to the state government. \ !

More than 12( million visitors are expected to visit Darling Harbour by the end of this year, and few of them will not have experienced a ride on the monorail. It is, in i its own right, a major tourist attraction and it provides efficient city transport and seems likely to be a reliable moneyspinner. There is no wonder that opponents of the system are now silent.