brettg.com

I’m riding the train this morning for the first time since connex was ousted and new company “Metro” took over operating Melbourne trains. Things are not looking up…

I’m seriously considering never taking the train again thanks to metro’s new station announcements. Instead of just announcing “now arriving at (station name here),” the bright marketing folks at Metro have decided to brand the arrival announcement “metro now arriving at…”

This is the most stupid and irritating branding idea I have ever heard. It is unbeleiveably annoying! I’m thinking of getting off the train!

The reality is that I just want to catch the train. It needs to arrive on time and get me there on time. I couldn’t give a flying #%^* who operates the train. I can’t wait for an alternately branded train to come along (how I wish I could right now!). So why the hell do I need to be subjected to your incompetent attempts at branding Metro?

I’ve heard the word metro 15 times already this morning… How long will it take for someone to go postal on this thing???

I randomly came across the following video showing a Texas train carrying truck trailers (pantech, sem-trailers). I wondered why we don’t use a system like this in Australia.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeW5MarQBKw&NR=1[/youtube]

Perhaps it’s due to height restrictions.

Seems like a good way to reduce heavy road traffic, increase fuel efficiency and reduce environmental impact. With such a vast land and just a few major centers, this would make a lot of sense.

I think that rail is way under utilised in Australia.