MTR, Will their reputation stick in Melbourne?

I've been on the S-Bahn and U-Barn in Vienna, the tube in London, the impeccably kept Swiss alpine rail Berner Oberland Bahn, the BTS Sky train in Bangkok and the ICE train through Germany. Some of them you could say were highlights of my stint using public transport.

And then there were the likes of Trenitalia Italy, far from bad, but dicey at times in terms of timing and cleanliness. Still, nothing tops off our lovely metro system throughout Australia. Sydney and Melbourne, one memory comes to mind in particular. Five years ago, studying as a student in the western suburbs of Melbourne, led me to catch the then at the time Met-train on a regular basis. After hearing numerous vicious stories and rumors of certain disposed items, it was a common practice for me to brush my hand ever so cautiously over the stained cushion as not to place my buttocks on a protruding sharp object.

Another general concern I had was the sheer audacity of pedestrians performing suicidal runs between platforms over the railway lines. Sure, most the time there wasn't a train in sight or well off in the distance, but on occasion there were some close calls. One of the things I came to appreciate during my intercontinental travels was the safety incorporated thinking of station layouts. Glass shields with automatic doors proved successful in keeping people off the line and reduced the chance of victims falling onto the track when boarding the carriage.

Having being forced to rely on public transport throughout my time backpacking in Europe, I based a decent percentage of what I thought of a country and its government by their train system. I can't help but wonder what European backpackers think when they visit our major cities.

Now, there was one place I forgot to mention earlier, and that was Hong Kong, the first city I ever visited abroad. The train system, all I can say was very close to perfect. I found myself timing the train’s arrival at the stations to the second. For such a busy busy place, with thousands of reliant commuters, the carriages and stations were kept very well.

As you may well already know by now 'MTR' (Mass Transit Railway) Hong Kong's railway system, has won the takeover bid for the Connex Contract for the Melbourne Metropolitan rail system. Will we too one day be proud of our public transport infrastructure? Time will only tell, but one thing is clear, 'MTR' cannot be held fully responsible for trying to take over the current debacle and attempting to turn it into a something shiny, the government will still hold a big hand in the outcome.

-Matt, Logistical Challenge 2009

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