We all know that, occasionally, trains can run late. But last week my $120 train ticket ended up costing NSW TrainLink $2,096.32 because the train left half an hour early.
My town of Harden-Murrumburrah (population 2,000) is nearly halfway from Sydney to Melbourne on the XPT train line. I was heading to Melbourne and figuring that I could be semi-productive, save a few emissions and drop the big-city traffic stress, I decided to catch the train.
I was early to the train station to begin with, given my recently developed over-50s anxiety about arriving on time.
My husband dropped me off 20 minutes before the 12.48pm train, a time outside the usual schedule. But I was reassured when I heard the platform announcement of the train arriving on time. Things were going to plan.
Shortly after the train didn’t arrive, I got a call from the Railway Man.
And are you sitting at the Harden railway station waiting for a train? Why yes, I said.
He was sorry to inform me that the train had gone half an hour earlier than the ticketed time. How could that be? I checked the website and there were no alterations. It was an amended timetable, he told me.
I looked at the other passenger waiting with me. She was on the phone, still blissfully unaware of our mutual predicament.
The Railway Man was apologetic and very helpful. Perhaps you could catch the train to Sydney (after waiting another two hours) and then fly from Sydney to Melbourne? My calculations told me I would be lucky to make the last flight. Or maybe a taxi to Wagga (two hours away) and then squeak on to the 4.30pm flight to Melbourne? Cutting it too fine to get there in time, I said.
Does Harden have a taxi? The Railway Man pondered. Mate, I said, do you know where Harden is and how big it is?
Three phone calls later, the RM found us a cab in Cootamundra, 40 minutes away. He suggested we would take the cab all-the-way. Are you sure? That seems a bit mad? Yes, the RM was sure. Given the inconvenience, the cab could even take me to my destination.
I had to give NSW Trainlink full points for honouring the travel ticket, even if I felt uneasy about the solution as a taxpayer. It was like being caught in a rip. You get pulled along before you have time to think it through.
My companion was going to Wodonga, about three hours down the line. So we settled into a surreal journey. The cabby chatted away about life in our part of the world, what we did, what he did and why we were going to our various destinations.
He had many taxi tales but unlike the driver in an epic UK cab ride reported just last week, he was not jacked up on Red Bull, though it was the first time he had driven someone to Melbourne.
Once we dropped off the other passenger at a suburban street in Wodonga, we belted down the highway and I wondered how often this happens. And what the financial state of the rail service was if it could roll with these costs, even though I was pathetically grateful.
I can assure fellow taxpayers that there were no leisurely coffee stops on the meter, though there was one toilet break. And by the time we rolled into Melbourne – six-and-a-half hours later and about an hour after the train would have arrived – the meter clocked off. The final toll: $2,096.32 after nearly 600km.
On enquiring, NSW TrainLink’s acting chief operating officer, Jasmin Streimer, said the Southern XPT had run early due to an operational error.
“When unplanned disruptions to train services arise, we rely on a number of transport options, including other NSW TrainLink trains and coaches, as well as buses, taxis and flights. The choice of mode depends on the circumstances,” Steimer said in a statement.
“It is unusual for passengers to be transported for long journeys by taxi such as from Harden to Melbourne.”
I had visions of a fleet of taxis running down the highway for all passengers along the XPT line that missed the early train, but Steimer assured me the issue was “identified and rectified so that the train ran to schedule through all remaining stations”.
But last week as my return journey approached I did not sleep well. I found myself at Melbourne’s Southern Cross station a full hour early, with coffee in hand, watching over the regional train platform number one like a cockatoo.
To my great relief, we left on time. The staff were uniformly cheerful, with one geeing up any Collingwood supporters over the intercom about the possibility of a Brisbane Lions win in the AFL grand final.
So I will absolutely take the train again, though I will be there even earlier this time.
The alternative is driving to Canberra to wait for a highly overpriced plane trip, boosted by the informal politicians’ levy out of our capital city.
For example, if I had taken the plane for last week’s trip, I would have had to pay $800, which is way over the top.
Oh wait. Maybe it is not so expensive.
