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Ari 🚋

@transitenjoyer.bsky.social

Guy who is normal about trains. Computer scientist, media director @bettertransportqueensland.org All posts, reposts, etc are made in a purely personal capacity he/him

169 Posts531 Follower253 Folgt
A Little Thought@alittlethought.bsky.social · last wk.

A third of the trains are out of service! C'mon LNP QLD Government pay our rail workers fairly, keep them safe and negotiate in good faith. Get the trains running!

David Marler@qldaah.bsky.social · last wk.

The Crisafulli government has not been able to provide a full Queensland Rail timetable for 3 months now. Negotiations between unions & QR are ongoing. Currently no industrial action by the RTBU. Minister Brent Mickelberg still refuses to take the lead. #qldpol www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08...

Ari 🚋@transitenjoyer.bsky.social · 2w ago

Another aerial photo comparison - the 1950's station complex, and the 1996 shopping centre/station that replaced it. Note the station access moved to face away from the CBD. Obviously a yard in the city isn't a great use of space (as much as it hurts to say), but this feels like a downgrade for pax

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Railmaps@railmaps.com.au · 2w ago

Forty years ago today I was on a Sunshine Rail Pass trip around Queensland. That day, I rode a regular passenger train that was withdrawn just two years later, and on a now closed line. But first, here’s the 1950s Cairns station as seen from my hotel room! 40 years ago today, July 28 1986 1 of 13

A three-storey, 1950s style brick railway station building as seen from streetside. An analogue clock is mounted at the top of the building and the letting CAIRNS RAILWAY STATION is spelled out across the fascia.
Ari 🚋@transitenjoyer.bsky.social · 3w ago

Realised I never posted this, here's some north Qld local service crayons for those interested in such things. I envisioned this as a 2-car DMU/BEMU running mostly on upgraded existing track (excluding the Palm Cove branch), with small stations & bus interchanges at most stations

A fantasy rail map showing local train services in Cairns.
Ari 🚋@transitenjoyer.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I do feel like (with only vibes as a source) a significant amount of the total available compute out there is wasted on the fact that modern tech firms LOVE pushing awful, unoptimised code. Just dumping absolutely abysmal shit on prod and then letting it scale because it's cheap enough

Sky Marchini@sky.skymarchini.net · 2mo ago

I was talking about this today with a colleague, the other problem with data centers is people love to blame AI for them, but AI is only like something like 10% of floor space in data centers now. The rest of it is the fact we all love to post a lot of bullshit online, and disks take up space

Ian Boudreau@ianboudreau.com · 5mo ago

Sorry I'm not more open-minded about LLMs, it's just some fucking maniacs shoveled out a bunch of useless bloatware featuring that technology, did not give me any chance to opt out, reorganized the entire economy around it, zeroed out gains made by green energy, and made it impossible to buy RAM

Ari 🚋@transitenjoyer.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Obviously track closures aren't helping, but I've noticed a major decrease in reliability with Brisbane's bus network recently. Seems like every few days a bus just doesn't show on me and almost every service is delayed. Not good!

Ari 🚋@transitenjoyer.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I am quoting my own org here, but it's genuinely so insane that the state gov wants to make ebikes/escooters completely useless for the average Queensland student (by making them be over 16 and licensed!) and adult (since there are so few bike paths, and good luck on the road at 25km/h!)

Better Transport Queensland@bettertransportqueensland.org · 5mo ago

The proposed changes include: - A ban on riders under 16 - A requirement for riders to hold a learner drivers licence or above - A 10 km/h speed limit on footpaths - Stronger police powers and higher fines - Reclassifying e-mobility devices with speeds above 25 km/h as motorcycles or mopeds 2/3

Ari 🚋@transitenjoyer.bsky.social · 5mo ago

From what the article suggests, even sharing this image separated from the ABC article might be illegal? Absolutely insane if true

David Marler@qldaah.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Qld police raid charity under Premier David Crisafulli's speech criminalisation laws. Dorothy Day House in Greenslopes provides food & housing to homeless & refugees. Resident Franz Dowling's digital devices & the sign were seized. No charges laid. #qldpol www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

Ari 🚋@transitenjoyer.bsky.social · 5mo ago

(Wall of text warning) Very funny to see that I was basically spot-on with deducing the actual cause of the Cross River Rail funding blowout. 1st image is from an interview with the CMFEU today, 2nd and 3rd are me attempting to answer the exact same question back in Dec 2025

A quote from the Courier Mail, which reads: Mr Newton is now facing cross examination. He has been asked to explain how the CRR project costs blew out from $5.4bn to its current $19bn price tag. Here is the entire explanation: “The $5.4 billion number back in 2017-18, when that budget was announced, the accounting standards didn’t require a declaration of the private financing component,” Mr Newton said. “In the subsequent year, in 2019-20, that private financing of roughly one $1.5bn or one $1.499bn was incorporated, so hence the budget was, then, I suppose, recorded as being $6.88bn.” “In the 2023-24 budget, it was adjusted to that same number, the comparative number $6.88bn was adjusted to $7.85bn and in that window was a range of things, stuff that’s been talked about here, but also Covid. “Then the most recent adjustment is in the current budget, which is in the 2025-26 budget, which is $9.83bn OK, so that if you were to do an apples with apples comparison, the $6.88bn has been adjusted to $9.83bn. “So then going to the question around the $19bn… it’s more than just that core scope of Cross River Rail. “If you add $2.6bn – which is the service payments, which is the 25 year concession period where the state pays back that, that creates a number of $12.4bn. “And there’s a further $6.6bn of other work that we’re delivering … there’s complimentary work, so stabling yards, station upgrades, bridges and some conventional signaling in the rail corridor. And on top of that is the ETCS signaling and also upgrades to the new generation rolling stock fleet, so that is ETCS capable. “And then there’s some integration funding… then there’s other costs, such as alternative transport… and also some additional costs for Queensland Rail for their operation once that goes in.” Keeping up? CRR build cost = $12.43bn ($9.83bn for project + $2.6bn for service payments) Other related works = $6.6bn [Continued in replies]A post made by me on the BTQ forum in Dec 2025, which reads as follows A ministerial statement from Dec 2024 breaks it down into: $10.5B for construction + 25 years of maintenance $5B for trains (QTMP?), stabling, signalling, rail replacements during construction, maintenance facilities, and “integration works” (presumably other projects) $1.5B for “late running and contractor claims” Last cost estimate from the red team before departure was $6.3B spend, and that’s for construction only. The link Metro posted above (probably the most reliable of the bunch) isn’t entirely clear, but does include this chart [A detailed chart showing the funding of Cross River Rail over various financial years]A continuation of the previous post by myself, which reads as follows: Looking further at pages 25 & 26, as far as I can tell $8.3B + $1.5B private funding for ‘core project’ (which, assuming everything grew in cost evenly from 2019 roughly breaks down into:) $6B for tunnels, stations, and development $1B for rail, integration, and systems $2.8B for land acquisition, contingencies, and other project costs $3.6B for associated project costs, seemingly all funded by QR & TMR (again, assuming even cost growth breaks into:) $1.8B for ETCS $1.8B for rail, integration, and systems $2.6B for 25 years of operations and maintenance $3B for ‘associated project costs’, which include “tunnel integration with the existing rail network, train stabling facilities, signalling systems, temporary bus services during construction, and maintenance equipment”. We also know from the media release above that this includes the new QTMP trains Some personal thoughts: Red team estimate of $6.3B from 2023 lines up perfectly with the state contribution to the CRR project at that time. I think if we want to do any meaningful comparison our cost for CRR is now $8.3B Blue team is counting the cost of the whole project including private funding and separate ETCS/RIS that QR is paying for, so that’s already a ‘blowout’ up to $13.4B without an additional cent being spent. I don’t think this is unreasonable per se (certainly the QR portion is also a state cost), but it’s odd to change costing half way through Blue team has additionally added 25 years of maintenance and ops to the cost (which we already knew about), as well as factored into what seems to be the entirety of the QTMP project, rail replacement buses, stabling, and god knows what else. I don’t really have any way to describe this other than dodgy to the point of lying to the public. Really disappointing [Continued in replies]
Ari 🚋@transitenjoyer.bsky.social · 6mo ago

In Australia you go to jail for 2 years for saying "from the river to the sea" in public, but get a slap on the wrist for repeatedly luring gay men into dark places and then filming yourself beating them unconscious while you shout slurs at them

ABC News Bot (unofficial)@abcnewsbot.bsky.social · 6mo ago

A suspected serial violent homophobe linked to an Islamic State terrorist network has walked free on probation after pleading guilty to a brutal snuff-video-style gay bashing.

Ari 🚋@transitenjoyer.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Had to call an ambulance yesterday for a middle-aged woman who came off her bike while moving from road to footpath here, because despite the width of the road (see image) and the constant flow of cyclists, BCC has decided not to install bike lanes and she didn't feel safe in rush hour traffic

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