Misleading train change does not change frustration

Andrew Constance, the Minister for Transport, is quoted as saying express services from Strathfield would double during peak hour to four trains per hour from September 30.

I have used the trains for years, and there have always been four trains via Strathfield per hour in peak time.

So, what kind of trains do we have then, at the moment?

Are the slightly slower trains (about seven minutes slower between Central and Woy Woy) not classified express?

Or do we use Newspeak now to confuse or mislead the uninitiated to applaud the government for their Herculean effort to, as it sounds, double services instead of making it transparent that the only change is, that every second train becomes seven minutes faster?

By the way, presenting giving up the stops at Burwood (only introduced at the last timetable change) as an achievement, with not even a handful of Burwood stops at the moment, looks definitely like bragging.

To me these stops have always made the impression as tailor-made to suit the wishes of one person.

I personally would appreciate the morning peak-hour Central Coast and the suburban train to connect at Epping again as it did before the big timetable change.

The Central Coast train usually arrives at the same time as the suburban train leaves from the opposite platform.

It is an utterly frustrating feeling to arrive at Epping just to see the other train closing its doors and leaving.

And this adds 15 minutes to the commute.

Multiple efforts to communicate this problem to the rail authority and the Minister have been unsuccessful.

Any changes on that?

Source:

Email, 28 Sep 2018

Liz Muller-Loth, Woy Woy