Digital Photo Gallery of Ted Szukalski
Fine art digital photography, photographic news, reviews, articles and resources.

Stranded commuters at Berowra station _MG_1013

Today, yet again, City Rail has failed its customers. The peak hour train to Central Coast has developed a problem and one of the carriages has started to fill in with heavy, chemical smoke. The train stopped at Berowra and commuters left the carriage by themselves. There was no warning over the PA. Worse yet, once the City Rail stuff have found the smoke they still allowed the commuters to return on the train without finding the underlying cause.

Fireman leaving Berowra station _MG_1023

I watched in disbelief the same was repeated upon arrival of the Fire brigade. No communication was issued to hundreds of people sitting on the train. It took another 15 minutes before finally someone decided the further trip was not possible for this train and everyone was asked to leave and wait for the following service.

Stranded commuters at Berowra station _MG_1020

To me this situation demonstrated City Rail is poorly prepared for emergency situations. In case like this where a carriage is filled with choking smoke, everyone should have been asked to leave until the train was declared safe. This time the smoke proved to be the result of a blocked break but next time it may be something more serious.

Wynyard station - platform 4 at 5:28pm

This week was a total disaster for Sydney City Rail. Firstly, an electrical storm on the Central Coast line caused delays for commuters in excess of three hours. City Rail stuff were totally unprepared for the situation. The replacement bus service took for ever to be organised and when the drivers arrived they have not been informed what happened and where to go. There were no City Rail officers at the bus stop to explain it to them or to communicate with the commuters. Conflicting announcements over the PA system could not reach the public, who were told to wait for the buses outside. The very next morning a tragic death accident caused even more delays for the commuters. Again, there were no contingency procedures to deal with the situation. A day later a gas leak at Epping put the timetables into disarray again. 30 minute delays, overcrowded platforms in peak evening hours. The photograph taken at Wynyard station shows Sydney commuters on platform 4 in temperatures exceeding 30C faced with a train, which arrived so full I doubt a single person was able to board it. And the week is not over yet…

Copacabana Beach, NSW, Australia

Continuing my series of photographic galleries dedicated to the Central Coast beaches I have today added Copacabana.

Copa, as it is locally referred to, is a popular surfing beach and a retreat destination. Unlike Avoca or Terrigal, which tend to be resort like, Copacabana preserves a village atmosphere. You won’t find here boutiques or endless raw of restaurants but you will find excellent, wide sandy beach ideal for surfing and swimming. Please be aware of bluebottles – they sting with a vengeance. This beach has an excellent beach patrol.

Most of the photos in this gallery come from Tudibaring Headland Boulder Scree Platform, which is located at the Northern end of the beach.