Re: [SA] Renmark

[Tell <just@hate.spammers.com>]

Yep, the point was totally missed on intrastate freight
and passenger train travel for so long by pollies,
lobby groups and latter day gunzel organisations.

SA was in a worse position than any other state with
three gauges and a host of political inspired lines.
No wonder Don washed his hands of the whole shebang
except metro trains.

ANR/AN will go down in SA gunzel lore as the great
wreckers, but as I have said before, NOBODY in SA
politics stepped forward and offered to "assist" in
keeping certain services and line open,  NO WAY.

....Tell



>"Garry Hoddinett" <hoddos@netspace.net.au> wrote:
>
> I think all through rural Australia farmers & rural communities turned to
> road - witness the big push for improved country roads.  Unless their was
> some bulk commodity like wheat then the community lost its railway line.
> And the 'cockies' all bleated when the lines closed even though they didn't
> use them.
> 
> South Australia was to an extent unique in that its agricultural lands had a
> high density of railway lines.  Look at the farming  lands north of Adelaide
> there was railways to Port Pirie, Gladstone, Spalding,& Peterborough (plus a
> few minor lines) all running parallel to each other and only 20 km's apart.
> Further the distant from the ports isn't  great when compared to other areas
> of Australia. When improved road transport came along such a high density
> could not be supported.  If a farmer is going to load a truck for a 10km
> journey to a railway it is not a big deal to go the extra 100km and take it
> direct to the port.  Now only a stub of the Peterborough line (Burra) and
> the Port Pirie line remain.  The same comparative high density of railways
> also existed for the irrigated Murray lands - Railways to Barmera, Loxton,
> Yinkannie, Waikere, and only Loxton remains.  Road transport is a lot
> shorter and quicker to Adelaide for these towns when compared to the rather
> contorted rail journey via Murray Bridge and over the Adelaide Hills.
> 
> However the shame about the closure of the line to Barmera for me is that
> with the big growth in containerised exports then the potential existed for
> transport from all the Co-operatives direct to the ports of Adelaide &
> Melbourne.  Such export orientated container traffic wasn't probably
> considered when the lines future was dicussed.
>