T-Rain

Hey! It's the first day of my half yearly exam week : ) I know I shouldn't be smiling but my first exam, English is over and it was awful today. It rained really hard and flash flooding occurred in Sydney and everyone lost their brains during the exam à cause de la pluie.

On the train back to Parra, I took some photos with my camera phone and I thought i'd post them up!

Spooky.

This is how you hang up umbrellas in the train >:D

DANGER! Wet floors!

"BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU" - Inside Joke. : )

WARNING! D: (Pull It Yourself: Part 4)

As mentioned in the past three posts in: Pull It Yourself, Pull It Yourself: Part 2 and Pull It Yourself: Part 3, I've been observing the strange motions of the CountryLink door locking system.

My hypothesis up until this moment had been that...

• The self-sliding door on the side of the railway tracks would open if, the door handle was loose and dodgy. Only then would the unlocking also affect these doors.

I HAVE BEEN PROVEN WRONG.
It was an ordinary day.

Monday 23rd May
Parramatta to Central: Sydney Terminal train.

We boarded. I noticed that the handle was stable and did not budge from its upright position. Would this door slide open? I doubted it. Chatter, chatter, chatter. The scenery whooshed by and the train drove on.
Upon arrival at Sydney Terminal, I yanked the door handle but it did not open. : ) I believed that my hypothesis was therefore indeed true and perhaps we were indeed safe from falling onto the railtracks.

Akira: "So you can't open it." :/

However, I persevered...and though it may have looked suspicious at that moment because it seemed as if i was purposely trying to force open CityRail property...it's not like I was trying to steal the door handle or anything.
Anyway, I jerked it around... and it slid open.

SHOCK HORROR!!!

CityRail!! How unsafe! D: All these times I thought you were simply careless with your CountryLink door handles and in repairing them! But now...I must see this in a different light.
Are they truly not bothered to execute a parallel processing unit in which only one side of the train's doors are unlocked at a time? Catching the trains, I know that the doors are locked whilst in motion...so why are they completely unlocked upon arrival at Sydney Terminal? I cannot believe that they would wish for someone to fall accidentally on the tracks because they kicked the door by accident - much like I did in my first post on this matter, without the falling however.

Yet, the confusing part is; when we board at Parramatta, I'm about 83% sure that the doors are locked firmly on the rail-facing side. Perhaps I should've jerked it around a bit to check.

Unfortunately, my dear readers...this investigation MUST CONTINUE! D:

New Hypothesis

• As the CountryLink terminates at Sydney Terminal, it does not take into consideration that it is necessary to lock half the doors anymore and therefore saves electrical effort in unlocking all the doors at once. (I doubt that really makes a difference...) Also for the "end of a journey" kind of effect. : )
  Hence this explains why it is locked at Parramatta and not at Sydney Terminal.

We shall soon see...

a sleepy driver...

Thursday 19th May
Morning train: Parramatta to Sydney Terminal

So, Akira and I were sitting in the boring old carriage of the countrylink, attempting to do our separate homework. I was doing IPT hw, and she was focusing on History. : )
As we sat, the announcement overhead said:

Lady: "Next stop Strathfield...change here to..."

Akira and I exchanged glances and i knew we were both thinking: "Strathfield?!?!?!?"
Because, of course, our morning train only goes directly to Sydney Terminal and doesn't stop anywhere else on the way. COULD WE HAVE CAUGHT THE WRONG TRAIN??? D:
Luckily, it was not so; for about a minute after this strange announcement...

Lady: "Sorry... Next stop Sydney Terminal."

xD i love trainly mistakes. kekeke.
wish that made it to the mX.

Pull It Yourself: Part 3

Parramatta to Central
morning Sydney Terminal train.

INTERESTING.

I happen to have probably caught the same train as last time [in Pull It Yourself Part 1]. Today, the Yr 10s had a History exam on Aboriginal Rights and Freedoms. Naturally, Akira and I were talking about assimilation, integration, self-determination and land rights on the train. I took out my book to read up on some of the information since I didn't really study last night. Hehe...too busy procrastinating... :/

After a while, whilst Akira was talking about lucky charms and her little bottle and other similar things, I noticed.....THE SAME DODGY HANDLE!!
There was a man standing in front of the door as the train was slightly fuller this morning than normal and we were unusually accompanied by two other adults in the outside "reception" carriage. So unfortunately, i couldn't go to check it out...

Was this truly the same train? If my thought patterns were right, then the door should open if i nudged it upon reaching Sydney Terminal.

When we arrived at Central, a pack of people came out from their seated section and piled into the entrance area. I casually went to stand next to the man who had been there earlier, and waited until the train stopped.

...I pulled the handle...
This is the moment of truth.
IT OPENED!! that is...after a bit of yanking and looking awkwardly like i was breaking public property *cough cough AHEM*

So. Is this the same train as a month ago? Are the trains that have dodgy handles the ones which are not linked to the centralised locking system of the train community? Why hasn't CityRail been notified of this train issue. It is potentially hazardous to the commuting public.
Okay. I guess...as a student and commuter of Sydney's trains...i should be the one reporting the faulty door handle since I'm the one who noticed it. :/ but I don't know how i can do that...

Hence this is an issue.

Should I be calling the hotline for graffiti? But anyway. This investigation shall continue if I ever happen across this train again! : ) Today was the first time we caught our normal train - the countrylink - this term.