Grand Central Rail’s Post

Yesterday, Yarra Trams’ Director Passenger Experience Donna Watson presented to industry at the Australasian Rail Association Light Rail Conference, sharing some of the current operational trends on Melbourne’s tram network and how as operator of Yarra Trams, Keolis Downer has risen to these challenges to deliver a fantastic passenger experience. Melbourne’s unique tram network is unlike anything else in the world, and with 74% of the network shared with other road users (like motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and even rallies) we’re experts at preventing and responding to disruptions. Whether that’s through campaigns like Beware the Rhino and infrastructure upgrades along key corridors to prevent vehicle-to-tram collisions, or extensive preparation for unplanned disruptions so we can get passengers moving faster after an incident. For a light rail network, we’re heavy hitters in Melbourne’s public transport mix, carrying over 154 million passenger journeys last year and maintaining strong operational performance.

Make sure you ‘Have Your Say’ for the survival of #AshwellMotors who are at risk of closing, after 40 years serving the local community unless the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority actively listens to the community and agrees the owners credible proposals for designated customer parking. Section 278 of the Highways Act 1980 is an enabler to fund such a parking arrangement as it’s intention is to mitigate the impact of developments on the local community! #nobodyleftbehind in #regeneration is what the #planforprosperity clearly states - this is probably the first test of that plan!

More people are catching Transdev John Holland Buses in Sydney's eastern suburbs 🚌 Trips hit a record 49.4 million in 2023, with the 333 - North Bondi to City Circular Quay via Bondi Junction - remaining one of the busiest routes, comprising near 17% of total patronage. Fun facts: • Our busiest stop is Bondi Junction. • Other busy routes include the 350 (Sydney Airport Domestic to Bondi Junction), 370 (Coogee to Glebe Point), 379 (North Bondi to Bronte), 390X (La Perouse to Bondi Junction) and 343 (Kingsford to City Circular Quay). • During school terms, 23% of all riders are using our buses on the weekend - but during the school holidays, it's 34%. Thanks to all our Journey Makers, Transport for NSW, our customers and communities for making last year such a success - here's to another big year!

To all my contacts, if you haven’t already done so, this is your final chance to make sure you stand up and ‘have your say’ for the survival of #AshwellMotors who are at risk of closing, after 40 years serving the local community unless the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Liverpool City Council to actively listen, agree and implement the owners credible proposals for designated customer parking. Section 278 of the Highways Act 1980 is an enabler to deliver the funding for such changes, as it’s intention is to mitigate the impact of such developments on the local community! Make sure #nobodyleftbehind in #regeneration as this is what the #planforprosperity clearly states - this is probably the first test of that plan! Steve Rotheram Nick Small Network Rail

I'm hot off the heels of a thrilling visit to Atlanta to celebrate the inaugural WestJet flight connecting Edmonton International Airport (YEG) to the world's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport with daily non-stop flights. James Jackson Adrian Warchola Paige Goueffic curated an incredibly inspiring group of Edmontonians to learn more about what makes Metro Atlanta special, how their economic development ecosystem works, and how we can develop meaningful relationships between our cities. Key learnings for me: 🚩 Economic development is a team sport. And like in team sports, the ownership group sets the vision for the organization, the coaching staff builds the strategy to achieve that vision, and the players execute it by working together and playing their positions as well as they can. 🚩 Stacking post-secondary institutions, technical colleges, and home grown startups to create depth within a particular industry vertical helps attract large corporations to your city to create challenging, meaningful jobs and spark game-changing innovation. 🚩 Access & connectivity are the foundations for growth. If people can get to your region, get around your region easily, meet people, bring ideas to life together, and move people and goods easily through your region across the country, you will be a strong community that everyone will be jumping over each other to invest in. This is a great flight for my company, Field Notes, to explore how we expand into new markets, but Atlanta is also a city we can learn a ton from, and I am excited to see what great ideas stick from this trade mission.

March 2024 at Cork Airport ✈️ 🧍♂️🧍♀️ 226,250 passengers 📈 +25% growth vs. March 2023 👮♂️ 100% through security in less than 20 minutes 🛫 83% average load factor 🧳 Average bag return time: 10 minutes 📆 Busiest day: Friday, March 29 📍 Busiest destination: London Heathrow Last month, we welcomed over 45,000 more passengers compared to March 2023. Passenger numbers in January, February and March have all been well ahead of 2023 levels and last month's traffic was boosted by international sporting fixtures, St. Patrick's Day/Bank Holiday and the start of the Easter school holidays. Commenting on last month's business performance, daa CEO Kenny Jacobs said: "Cork Airport had another fantastic month, with passenger numbers up 25% on March last year. A very extensive summer schedule has just started at Cork Airport, with a new Ryanair service to Brussels starting last weekend. Other new Ryanair services to Rhodes and Zadar will take off in June and Air France will add additional capacity on their key hub connections to Paris Charles de Gaulle for July and August,” #LoveTakingOff 📷 Magnifly

Superloop, an extraordinary project that aims to revolutionise public transportation across London. To achieve this ambitious vision, we have harnessed advanced technology at every step of the way. We have implemented an end-to-end digital ecosystem to support our fleet of modern electric buses, cutting-edge control centres, and modern driver training and exam centres. By leveraging modern cloud, IoT systems, we seamlessly schedule routes, employ advanced rostering techniques, establish real-time GPS connectivity, use of LowCode applications, and leverage real-time data analytics to effectively manage route performance all behind the scenes. One of the most significant advancements we have made is expanding the installation of our robust electric vehicle charging infrastructure that load balances charging capacity based on variable power grid supply. This ensures smooth operations regardless of fluctuating weather conditions, achieved using #cloudcomputing, and #iiot. Additionally, passengers will benefit from the convenience of using third-party tracking apps that leverage TfL's #OpenAPI that receive realtime data from our fleet. Our commitment to enhancing service quality extends to the implementation of AI-driven tools. These tools proactively maintain buses and maximise service reliability by utilising vast datasets sourced from our SMART buses, and external sources for our state-of-the-art Operational Control Centres so our controllers and drivers can effortlessly navigate through traffic with the assistance of Generative AI, enabling a seamless and efficient transit experience. #digitaltransformation #ai #iot #aws #azure #evcharging #genai

I finally got around to finishing my latest blog. It is all about the two railways that once featured in the town of Athlone. Did you know that there were two railway companies operating trains in Athlone back in the day? An interesting topic for those of you who use the Galway - Dublin Train to commute. Read it here 👉https://rb.gy/y67ynf

How about repair QE2 Hwy from Edmonton to Calgary and add a third lane to each side all the way so that we aren’t running bumper to bumper day in and day out. Now that would be some good money spent.

I learnt early on in my career that you can’t run a transport company from behind a desk. I’m the first to admit that sometimes I don’t always follow this (and let the diary run my day) so a rare trip out today for a couple of hours for a safety tour at Crystal Palace bus station and the surrounding area reminded me of a few things that I should not forget: 1. Theory. The drivers know what’s going on and they can give you better insight than anything else. Use the data to guide the insight and don’t use it as insight in its own right 2. The customer offering at the stop can always be better 3. Looks are everything. A poorly dressed bus regardless of age stands out 4. Riding a route end to end with a stopwatch and a piece of paper may be getting back to basics (and odd for me in light of the subjects of my regular posts!) but it grounds you as a bus leader. I need to do more of it and find the time to make sure i do. Thanks to all those drivers, TfL staff and customers in and around Crystal Palace today that indulged me in what became an unexpected period of self reflection. These people are the real heroes of delivering a service for London - we’re just in the orchestra checking they are in tune. Whilst I may use the bus daily (and one visit out isn’t going to change the world) it can always serve to help ground us as transport leaders #futuretransport