It’s fair to say that things have not been going entirely smoothly with the launch of the first stage of Sydney’s flash new Metro rapid transit system. In the first few days, passengers reported a variety of issues ranging from doors failing to open, trains not quite lining up with the platform correctly, and children becoming separated from their parents thanks to trains unexpectedly taking off. Today, the driverless trains faced the ultimate humiliation that a driverless train can face: being driven by a driver.
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As first reported by the Hills Shire Times, a train travelling on the line towards Tallawong broke down between Cherrybrook and Epping, with Transport for NSW describing the issue as a communication fault. A Transport for NSW spokesperson told The Guardian that that ‘communication fault’ was the train essentially no longer communicating with the system, which required a “customer journey coordinator” onboard the train to take over and drive the train to Cherrybrook.
According to The Guardian, the train continued the rest of its journey off the line before being cycled out for a replacement so that it could be inspected.
The fault caused delays that didn’t resolve until a number of hours later.
Metro services are now running at their normal frequency, and congestion on platforms has eased. We apologise for any inconvenience, and thank you for your patience while we work through initial teething problems pic.twitter.com/zcc0o6czPO
— Sydney Metro (@SydneyMetro) May 29, 2019
The Metro also faced issues today with electronic displays not displaying any information:
Some electronic display boards at stations are not currently displaying information. Services are returning to normal frequency, please listen to announcements https://t.co/RqqaDlbksY
— Sydney Metro (@SydneyMetro) May 29, 2019
How cool is living in the future?