Rail commuters holding out hope for extra services on the South Coast line during the second closure of Bulli Pass later this year can forget about it.
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Roads and Maritime Services recently announced it would close Bulli Pass from August 28 to November 3.
NSW TrainLink will be taking the same approach it did with the 2016 closure, deciding there were already enough services and carriages in operation to cope with demand.
“NSW TrainLink monitored customer demand during the closure of Bulli Pass last year and there was sufficient capacity on existing train services to cater for people wishing to make alternative travel arrangements,” a spokesman for NSW TrainLink said.
“This will be the case again during the closure of Bulli Pass planned for later this year.”
The spokesman declined to state whether NSW TrainLink had received any complaints about services during last year’s closure.
According to transport data supplied to Roads and Maritime Services during the planning for the first closure, South Coast trains during the morning peak were well below the 135 per cent loading benchmark.
A 135 per cent load means five people are standing on each level and 15 in each vestibule.
A 100 per cent load means there are no empty seats.
Surveys showed the morning peak recorded an 86 per cent load figure while the evening peak was 101 per cent.
The NSW TrainLink spokesman said that no major track work would be planned during the second closure of the pass.
The closure of Bulli Pass is to allow work to complete 1.1 kilometres of rock fall fencing from the hairpin north to the top of the pass.
Around 600 metres of fencing were installed at the lower end of the pass during the closure in the second half of last year.
The closure from August this year will see the remaining 500 metres installed further into the bushland over the pass.