Tangara

Tangara is an aboriginal word meaning to go. Tangara in NSW is also the name of a suburban electric train used on the Sydney rail network. Made by United Goninan near Newcastle NSW. Introduced in 1988. Train travel is the safe, fast way to get around Sydney. Initially the train experienced a few hiccups. Often these were passenger or staff caused incidents, not understanding the new technology. This was at a time when people were also having problems understanding how to program their VCR. Today the Tangara train is fully understood and it gives very little trouble. At home people also today understand how to record TV but no longer do they use a VCR. Its now done using a digital set top box with HD. Now they get to see lots of TV shows that were recorded while they were away. About 450 Tangara carriages were made. A few were lost due to accidents. If ever there was a train that did not like a derailment this was the one. These trains are not happy when not on two rails. They roll over in a derailment other than very slow speed incidents. Maybe modern man could therefor be credited with giving the word Tangara a new meaning. To fall over. Each Tangara train is 4 cars. They seat 420 people. RailCorp claim they can hold 1000 people in total with 580 people standing. That number of people in such a restricted space would be an extremely uncomfortable trip. A more realistic number would be about 400 standing. The Sydney railway system use 1500DC which is supplied by over head wiring. Dont touch as a change of skin colour is guaranteed. Two 4 car train can be coupled to form an 8 car train. RailCorp like to claim, that is 2,000 less cars on the road. Yea right. Who said they have taken the drugs out of the railway? Since introductions a few small modifications have taken place. The passenger door release handle to open the side passenger doors was removed. It was original provided so that only doors where people wanted to enter or exit the train would be opened by the passenger. This was intended to reduce loss of cool air. Sydney people found the need to pull this handle was excessive in demand. It was easer to complain than use the brain. Strange but true. The very same design handle and operation is used to open interconnection (end) doors to allow people to move into adjoining carriages. For reasons only God can explain. The side doors were a problem yet the inside doors were not as equally mentally demanding. The internal emergence passenger side door release was also removed as it was abused by vandals. The original passenger seats covering was replaced with vinyl. A digital voice announcement was introduced to warn people that the side passenger doors are closing. Very necessary as Sydney people are not able to see the pair of 2 meter high by 1 meter wide painted bright yellow doors as they slide close. Yellow front panels were introduced to end cars for safety. Making the train easy to see when it is approaching or when waiting.