The New Intercity Fleet - What Went Wrong?

Yet another downside of these over V-sets is that if you can't use stairs you spend up to THREE HOURS facing inwards. V-sets have forwards facing seats at vestibule level.

It will be interesting to see what travelling on a D set will be like since I’m from Newcastle. Hopefully on the other hand some of the V sets get preserved for museums, charter services, bought by private owners and NSW Transport Heritage Expo organisations.

A lot of the dramas around design issues were brought up very early in the project, but all concerns were ignored. In the beginning (late 2014?), they sought an off the shelf design with luggage racks and tray tables (obviously inspired by European Intercity trains), but quickly found that no suitable high floor design existed. That didn't stop their other goals though such as specifically seeking out non-reversible seating. A few years later, there was a Sydney Morning Herald article with a person from Transport going on about how everyone else only uses fixed seating, even Japan (which is a huge lie). So obviously they made these decisions before design and needed to find ways to justify them. As with the operating model, there was a memo put out in 2016 that they had 3 options - as is with guards, the customer service position, and no guard, and they were going with the latter option, which generated the expected uproar. By around 2018, they had slipped towards the Customer Service position as a non Safeworking qualified position, which was received as unsatisfactory. Though if you talked to the managers at the time, they insisted it was a qualified position. Around 2020, the proposed operating model was something stupid like 2 guards, one sitting in a seat watching the cameras and on the phone with the driver to communicate the departure, while the other was doing platform duties before coming back in due to TI crew door and no bell. Obviously this was never going to work but you could tell management was desperate. And now, here we are. My understanding is various systemwide improvements have been proposed, but never acted upon. That Burwood incident comes to mind. Why don't they have windows that guards can lean out of like in Japan if it's such a concern?

The V-sets have the most comfortable seats for those long trips that could be 2-3 hours. Sure, the acceleration is slow, the brakes aren't great, and a long list of other issues. But give me those comfy reversible seats any day over a H or D set.

This actually seems like a news report lol😂😂😂great job

The crap point is, you can't change the direction of the seats! Even the old +50yo trains can do that!

Having been on V Sets and H Sets, the one thing I found great about the former was the luggage racks above the seats, whereas on the latter, a large number of seats were being taken up by suitcases because there was nowhere else to put them.

The original plan was that guards would be changed into service attendant like positions that would patrol the train, not that they would be removed completely. The change was to make them no longer have a "safeworking" role. Currently the guard cannot leave their cab due to their inability to undertake safeworking roles elsewhere in the train. Not saying it's good bad or otherwise, that's just the rule. As for trains not fitting the track comments that the MLC made, this is a common misconception. Because the guard wasn't going to be controlling the doors, it was decided that the train should be as close to the platform as possible and should fit the Medium electric Kinematic Envelop (KE) which most of the network had been progressively upgraded to over the last few decades. The last hold out was the Blue Mountains line beyond Springwood through to Lithgow. These upgrades are similar to when the V set was introduced almost 50 years ago when it was introduced. To be honest, that KE upgrade was probably the one thing done right with the D set. Otherwise you would have built a train that would have had a larger platform gap at all other stations on the network than the OSCAR it was displacing.

These trains should be been manufactured here in Australia

Great work, enjoyed this one just as much as the XPT replacement.

One benefit (that most people don't realise) of the door between the vestibule and the seats on the V-Set is that it stops the cold air getting into the seated area during winter, it regulates the temperature/air con where people are sitting... This is especially important on the Blue Mountains line in Winter, with the new train being fully open, all the heat will escape at every station.

Fixed seats are a major mistake esp if your a person who cant travel backwards good like finding a seat in peak hour.

2:18 best part, shows why it didn’t come with guard features and why it was such a faliure! Explained well, easy to understand reasons why they broke down every 69 minutes on testing. Nice job explaining this 🎉 🙂 But fr tho, it is a good explanation and a good video, nice

This type of thing happens around the world, so don't feel left out. In Boston, Massachusetts, the 3rd oldest electrified underground metro system in the world, had issues with its then new Type 8 LRVs it purchased from Ansaldo-Breda in 1997. The Green Line light rail line has some of the tightest curves as the line runs under the streets. Due to the tight radius, there are special requirements for the builder, therefore, the "T" can't purchase off-the-shelf trams for the Green Line. The first order arrived in 1999 and the Type 8s derailed in the tunnel after getting stuck on the tight curve entering Boyleston Street, causing millions of dollars in damage to both the tunnel and the brand-new light rail vehicle. The incident prompted the "T" to pull the vehicles from service and have them retrofitted with new bogies that could negotiate the curves better. It was a full 2-years before the new Type 8s finally entered revenue service and cost us millions in tax-payer funds to fix the tunnel and pay for the retrofit.

Excellent video and excellent reporting. I am gobsmacked that it will be 5 years since the first Dset was delivered and they haven't carried one paying passenger DISGRACEFUL!! I hate the fact that they have fixed seating. Maybe we should get Victoria to build our trains because they are building trams and trains for Melbourne. The crew that were originally trained must now be retrained to get accredited. Great video, well done 👏 👍

No train will ever be better than a V Set, it’s really a great vibe for long distance travel from Sydney to Gosford, Newcastle or Lithgow. I do love the H Sets too but the V Sets are like being in a plane, and the sound of them are just so good and relaxing, they are so cozy and comfortable for long distance travelling, as well as the reverse able seats. I honestly hope they don’t scrap them to when they retire, or at least keep them for emergency trains in case if a D Set breaks down or something. V Sets forever ❤

Nsw trains still have guards? Melbourne trains got rid of guards years ago. These days I think the drivers are used to controlling the doors as well as the throttle and break. In fact most stations have either CCTV TV screens or mirrors at the front of the platforms, right next to where the driver cabin stops

Current V sets DJ series DI series DC series DK series DT series Will be gone when the D sets enter service

The fixed seats are one of the reasons why the NIF will be my most hated train in my opinion. Also, stations on the Eastern Suburbs, City Circle and North Shore Lines cannot fit a 10 car set, because these stations are only long enough for 8 carriages.

I hope the d sets get scraped before the v sets