Re: Gunnedah shire pushes Melbourne-Darwin rail line

["Shane Polle" <shanep@amc.aust.com>]

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In article <ezSF4.1519$Nn5.387754@news0.optus.net.au> dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David Bromage) writes:
>From: dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David Bromage)
>Subject: Re: Gunnedah shire pushes Melbourne-Darwin rail line
>Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2000 01:35:06 GMT

>Dion Williams (onamission@freemail.com.au) won a Nobel Prize for literature by writing:
>> David Bromage wrote:

>> > > Yes exactly. The only place the idea of 200km/h freight trains running
>> > > 3000km through outback Queensland and New South Wales to Darwin could
>> > > gain any attention is in the minds of spruiking politicians who know the
>> > > power of a promise. After fixing Adelaide-Melbourne, rebuilding the
>> > > Sydney-Melbourne and Sydney-Brisbane routes in their worst spots and
>> > > after that possibly getting Alice Springs-Darwin up and running, then
>> > > other connecting routes could possibly be considered. Even these
>> > > relatively small projects are endlessly booted back and forth by
>> > > politicians; projects like Melbourne-Darwin are just pie in the sky.
>> > 
>> > Again, you've missed the point. Melbourne - Darwin is a privately funded
>> > project.

>> And if they run out of money, which on a project as large as this is a
>> high risk, it's going to require government funds to complete it or
>> there's going to be a huge amount of infrastructure sitting around doing
>> nothing.

>Gee, a relatively straight non-electrified line designed for 200m/h
>running with gradients no more than 1 in 66 and clearance for double
>stacking. If they run out of money, they could sell it or sell operating
>rights. If they run out of money at Gunnedah, there's still Melbourne -
>Tocumwal - Temora - Dubbo - etc. available for traffic.

>Cheers
>David


David , in this country we have dozens of railway lines that are available for 
traffic.
Melb - Sydney is available for traffic, but carries so little that if this 
line had to be built today by the private sector ,it would not be viable.
The same goes for just about every other railway line in Australia with the 
exception of the Pilbara Lines,and the coal lines in NSW and Qld.
These lines are the only ones that carry enuf freight to generate sufficient 
revenue in track access fees to cover the capital cost of the line plus the 
interest on the capital.
For Railway lines which are to carry general contestable freight,they will 
need to be Govt funded or very generous concessions have to be made to any 
private builder.

No, more lines would be built today, why, because they would be built striaghter, flater and more direct. They wouldn't be limited by boarders, guages or go through towns that have nothing to offer. How many lines in Australia force their trains to slow down, while the train winds its way through a town that dosn't even have a railway station anymore.

A new line built today from Syd to Mel, would have a criteria of 140km/hr freight, 1:100 with corners that enable the train to travel over 100km/hr all the way to Mel. Anong the way would be freight loading points like Canberra, Wagga, Albury, etc. They line wouldn't go throug the centre of town. The XPT would do the the trip in about 6-7hrs.

In the country we would see the hub and spoke system. Where the train runs to major hubs with some spokes and trucks do the rest. Sure there would be less track over all, but it would be faster, more efficent and cheaper. The trucking industry wuld be the rails customer and service provider, not competitor.

Shane