Sardine trains

Overcrowded trains 'show success' :

"OVERCROWDING on Melbourne trains was a sign of success and not a safety issue, Victorian Transport Minister Peter Batchelor said today.

The minister was commenting on government figures showing load limits – of just under 800 commuters – had been regularly breached on peak morning services."

Well, yes, I too, am delighted to hear people are flocking to public transport where they can, but such a cavalier attitude to numbers on trains is remarkably odd. All vehicles have a passenger load limit. All vehicles have a load limit for a reason. Trains are surely not any different. The Sydenham train has been carrying 950 passengers in some instances.

If the technical capacity for 6 carriage trains is 798, who sets the capacity? If they are trying to work out how many people you can fit on a train before it becomes unsafe, then I think it's an ill conceived way of collecting data because people are being put at risk. Even from the point of view of squashing people onto a train, the whole approach seems to be very lax, to say the least. It may not be, it may be how this article reads. I am sure there are better ways of managing this people problem. I realise you cannot just put extra trains on in a city like Melbourne, but if people want to use public transport, you need to adjust quickly or they'll go back to cars. I am glad people want to use public transport. It'll help save petrol fumes in the atmosphere.