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.

Woman with a cigarette

This photograph illustrates the air we have to breath while walking through the streets of Sydney courtesy of smokers. Every few meters people are having a cigarette and in most cases we do not see the smoke even if we may smell its choking fumes. It takes a big of sunlight on the right angle to show how much smoke a person exhales in a single puff.

PS: I know cigarettes are legal but they carry a lot of health warnings about the consequences of smoking them, so where is my right not to have to inhale this hazardous substance?