Had a very eventful trip to the city today.

Upper Ferntree Gully

7:47am train cancelled. Radio station said no trains cancelled.

PIDS displayed 7:39 as the next train in 3mins (this didn’t seem to change), when the 7:39 had already been and gone.

Caught 7:55 (Hitachi) instead.

Mont Albert and Surrey Hills

The express train stopped before each of these stations for several minutes.

Camberwell

The train was so full people were slow to get one; at one point the driver made an announcement along the lines of “we apologise for the overcrowded train but there will be another train shortly if you just let this train go.”

Richmond

I was going to catch the 8:45 direct train to Flinders Street, but then observed:

• It was only 3 carriages.
• It was completely full.
• Crowds of people waiting for it to stop so they could board.
• I would have had problems getting off my train.

So I didn’t bother.

Parliament

Managed to get off my train; it was still overcrowded. I had to push and shove a bit though.

On platform 3, I just missed the 8:53 (not sure of exact time) train to Flinders Street (the doors closed right in front of me), so I caught the 8:24 train to Flinders Street instead. Yes, this meant the train was 30 minutes late (No, I didn’t employ any time travel techniques), although I only had to wait several minutes.

Flinders Street

Arrived around 8:57. In time to catch the Fishermens Bend bus (235) which was running 5 minutes late (9:05 instead of 9:00).