Big Wednesday was lucky for me!
I didn't win Big Wednesday today. However, my ticket was a lucky one. Why?
Usually I catch the 5.15pm train home. Today I decided to forgo my usual train and instead go and buy the Big Wednesday ticket I'd forgotten to pick up on my lunch break. After buying my ticket I wandered down to the train station and looked for the 5.35pm train. I couldn't see it so started to wander over to the nearest train guard. As I was wandering over he announced that trains to Melling were cancelled due to a power failure on the line so buses would be replacing trains.
That didn't help me at all. I don't live in Melling. I asked the train guard which platform my train would be going from and he said he'd check. He was about to ask into his radio when someone said over it, 'There will be no trains on the Hutt Valley line tonight. A train has hit a truck just near Petone.'
Because all the buses were already tied up going to Melling there would also be no rail replacement buses for a couple of hours. I walked out to the bus stop to find that there were no regular buses for half an hour, but there was a bus that would stop a 20 minute walk from my house. I figured I may as well take it.
As we were driving past Petone (50 minutes after my regular train time) I saw an absolutely packed train sitting on the tracks. I suddenly realised that it was probably my regular train. And was also probably the train that had hit the truck.
So, if I hadn't decided to go and buy a Big Wednesday ticket I would have been on a train that hit a truck and then sat in the middle of the tracks for at least an hour - probably longer.
Thank goodness for buying Big Wednesday!
Usually I catch the 5.15pm train home. Today I decided to forgo my usual train and instead go and buy the Big Wednesday ticket I'd forgotten to pick up on my lunch break. After buying my ticket I wandered down to the train station and looked for the 5.35pm train. I couldn't see it so started to wander over to the nearest train guard. As I was wandering over he announced that trains to Melling were cancelled due to a power failure on the line so buses would be replacing trains.
That didn't help me at all. I don't live in Melling. I asked the train guard which platform my train would be going from and he said he'd check. He was about to ask into his radio when someone said over it, 'There will be no trains on the Hutt Valley line tonight. A train has hit a truck just near Petone.'
Because all the buses were already tied up going to Melling there would also be no rail replacement buses for a couple of hours. I walked out to the bus stop to find that there were no regular buses for half an hour, but there was a bus that would stop a 20 minute walk from my house. I figured I may as well take it.
As we were driving past Petone (50 minutes after my regular train time) I saw an absolutely packed train sitting on the tracks. I suddenly realised that it was probably my regular train. And was also probably the train that had hit the truck.
So, if I hadn't decided to go and buy a Big Wednesday ticket I would have been on a train that hit a truck and then sat in the middle of the tracks for at least an hour - probably longer.
Thank goodness for buying Big Wednesday!
Labels: public transport
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on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 9:29 PM.
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