Got to say the abruptness of the split and then Big Alice getting to New Eden, derailing, the bridge collapsing, people diving outside within minutes was quite jarring.
Granted I think they want to freshen the cast up so it was a way to pop them off quickly might work, but considering Melanie is supposed to be portrayed as a hyper-logical person, well they have the scaler and other such support trains that we now know exist and move around, then why not take one and send it up the tracks to new Eden and see if the tracks are solid, see if the climate there good?
Hell they could have decoupled just a few cars and gone up with Alice and taken a look while SP carried on at a reduced rate.
Just so much about it was obviously rushed and doesnt make sense. Hell it would have been nice for a "long tough trip" type of side story where maybe they could keep in comms range for a while and the like as they snake through the horn of africa looking for the spot itself.
Moaning aside, I still love the show haha