There's been a bit of discussion on sar-L about the Metrobiltz. I asked the question, "Why was this high speed experiment so short-lived?", and got a couple of replies.
Alan wrote:The why of the Metroblitz
Since someone asked...
In the late 1970s and early 1980s there was a serious intention on the part of
SAR&H to increase the speeds of passenger trains. Remember those were the days
when there were hundreds of trains covering the whole country.
SAR set up a high speed working group (Or committee or whatever, I forget the
exact name). Mechanical, Electrical, Civil and signal engineers were involved. A
lot of work was done on track design, overhead and signalling, as well as
rolling stock.
This was also the era that the "new Generation" AKA "Blink Stefaans" suburban
sets were ordered.
The MetroBlitz was a test train. To speed things up modified 6E1s and suburban
coaches were used. The intention was to use the 14Es on these trains, of course
they finally arrived long after the project was abandoned. The 14Es were
designed with the potential of 300 km/h with gearing changes. (For the 14E1s, I
decided to make them heavier and slower and simplify the bogies, but that is
another story for another day.) A competing faction wanted a high speed EMU
instead.
Since the Chief Engineers' offices were in Johannesburg and Pretoria, the line
between the two was a perfect location to perform tests. New turnouts were
designed and installed, new overhead wires, some curve easements and new
signalling. The Metroblitz even pioneered "Automatic train stop" in South
Africa. (Which never worked properly). For what it is worth, due to the laws of
physics, center-of- gravity, maximum cant and those sorts of things, standard
gauge trains can go around a curve of a given radius 30-40% faster than a Cape
gauge train. And no, tilting does not help. The maximum safe speed is about the
same as the maximum comfortable speed on narrow gauge.
The Metroblitz went into experimental service, and even ran to Bloemfontein on a
test.
However, about this time the Government had a change of heart about passenger
travel and how to pay for it.
The new suburban trains stopped coming, the idea of high speed passenger trains
was killed and the massive rebuilding of the lines feeding JHB station was
stopped..(The so-called sextupling: six lines to the west running through the
existing Braamfontein yard, and five lines to the East, as opposed to the
current four lines.) You can still see remains of this project between
Braamfontein and Langlaagte.
In this environment the Metroblitz had nowhere to go: It was never intended to
serve a real commercial goal in itself, it was a stepping stone to something
greater. So it was quietly withdrawn.
Ashley wrote:Although, living in Durban, I only managed to travel on the Metroblitz about
three or four times, but I recall its demise caused something as follows.
Initially it was scheduled to leave Pretoria at about 06:30, travelled 69km
non-stop and arrived JHB at 07:15. This seemed to be quite popular and at one
stage one had to book a seat to ensure accommodation - no standing passengers
were allowed. SAR employees were allowed to use their concessions on this train
and, with its convenient arrival time for 07:30 workers, it was naturally used
by quite a few railway concession-holders.
In order to put a stop to this "abuse" of the service, the train was then
scheduled later - I think leaving PRR at about 07:30 and arriving JHB at 08:15,
supposedly for the 9 - 5 executive types but they never migrated to the service
and it ran emptier and emptier. Similar timetable changes were adopted in
the afternoon to deter "Spories" from using the train. Eventually additional
stops were added at Verwoerdburg (Centurion) and Kempton Park, but this didn't
seem to help the numbers much and only served to slow the overall running time
down.
As this is based largely on memory and hearsay, I would be happy to hear any
corrections or other opinions in this regard.
Ashley
PS - Incidentally, as John Wepener would no doubt agree, the allegation that the
train was running "for free" seeing as it was being used by concession holders
is a bit of a misnomer as each railway department has to pay over the balance
owing in terms of the difference paid by its employees between their
concessionary rate and the full fare. I have worked with railway budgets for
some time and can confirm that this definitely happens. The same argument has
often been advanced in terms of the operation of the Orange Express and was
probably central to the decision to reduce this service to only once a week -
but the same applied - other railway departments would have had to make up the
difference in income caused by concession-holders using these trains.