RECENTLY I had the opportunity to return home on the Bathurst 'bullet train' after a hard day in Sydney.
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Wow, a 'bullet train'!
Off to Central Station, I looked around to find the 'bullet train' ... no luck. Then I asked an assistant for help. She pointed to a two-carriage rail motor.
I thought 'could this be the bullet train?'. Well, two carriages, that may mean it can go faster.
Inside, there was luggage space and places to hook your bike; the seats were shapeless with no padding, probably to save weight and let the train go faster.
Well, we were off on time, working across all the bumpy points; not much springing for a comforting ride ... but that's probably to allow for the speed.
We worked our way to Parramatta and were passed by suburban trains and arrived five minutes late, but that would be made up when the 'bullet train' reached the country.
Out of Penrith, the motors gave a roar and we were off speeding through all the outer suburbs like a bullet, stopped at Katoomba then roared away ... really moving.
The engines were roaring but then we stopped at Mount Victoria ... what for? To cool the motors?
On to Lithgow now, no stops until Bathurst, but we weren't going fast. The engines would roar, then we would speed up and then slow down, then all of a sudden we pulled up at Tarana.
After some movement on the platform, we were off, but again not with the continuous speed of a 'bullet train', and we were rocking and rolling, hard to get comfortable on the hard seats and it was getting cold.
I did have a jumper but I assume this was normal as some passengers had come prepared and produced rugs and blankets ... I guess heating would slow the train.
Just then we stopped at Rydal. This could not be right ... aren't we on a 'bullet train', not an ordinary passage train?
We eventually arrived at Bathurst. The 160 kilometres had only taken four hours. That's a tremendous speed of 40 kilometres an hour - wow, disappointing for a 'bullet train'.
Then there was no bullet bus to Orange, so we did the circular trip via all the train stations.
If I had left Central 15 minutes earlier on an ordinary train, changed onto a nice comfortable warm coach at Lithgow, I would have arrived in Orange at exactly the same time on the same coach.
Is it really a 'bullet train'?
