Re: Straight from the Horse's Mouth

["Dave Proctor" <thadocta@spambait.dingoblue.net.au>]

Anon wrote in message <200002091112.GAA11951@cotse.com>...
>This message was posted anonymously:

That is funny - the sig at the end says it is from Steve Bradford - why
don't I believe it?

>*       Great Southern Railway is a private company which is required to
make a profit on capital
>invested.  The business to us is not a hobby on which to lose significant
amounts of money.

Agreed - no problem there. BUT - the compaines that own GSR went into it
with their eyes open, on the basis of a twice weekly IP, twice weekly Ghan
(during high-season) and a daily Overland. To now back out on the basis it
is not profitable is bad management. They should have been able to see that
and based their tendering (and their advertising) accordingly.

>*       Our efforts, I believe, to grow rail travel in Australia has been
nothing less than superb.  We
>extended The Ghan, introduced tours off the Indian Pacific, refurbished The
Overland, introduced
>refurbished carriages, brought the Chairman's Car into service etc.  These
may not be all to your
>personal liking but they bring to Rail new customers - this is what is
needed, in our view.

Agreed - although the catering on The Overland is still woeful. The
Kookaburra Car, whilst better than the offerings on the XPT, is still far
inferior to that available before GSR took over. The Club Car environment is
always the best when a train operates outside of standard meal hours - and
The Overland falls into this category.

>*       The Overland has lost considerable sums of money, but much less
than
>Australian National.  There is no justification for a Monday and Tuesday
service in most weeks in
>February or March.  There are not enough passengers!  This is a simple fact
that has been in evidence
>for 5 plus years.

Agreed - BUT, it will cost you passengers. There is a segment of the
community that desires flexibility. They will not buy tickets on a service
which only operates on Th, Fr and Su. I saw this when I worked for
Dial-A-Coach in Sydney, when Bus Australia cancelled their Mo, We and Sa
services from Sydney to Adelaide. People would book on a daily service *just
in case* they needed to change (a day either way).

The backpacker mode will move even more to road coaches, since if they are
booked on a Sunday from Melbourne, and they decide to spend an extra day or
two, they will not want to wait until Thursday, they will want to go on Mon
or Tues - a service and frequency which coaches provide. GSR is not keeping
up with its competition in this regard.

>*       Track speed is now (since September 1999) not an issue.  The market
is telling us the present
>timetable for a night service is at its optimum - any less would be
unworkable.

I don't know about that - there is always room for an earlier arrival - 0845
could be bettered, although the departure time is optimal, IMHO.

>*       I don't know what you mean about the BL locomotives.  They adhere
to track path speed and are
>cost effective.
>
>*       Coach class sit-ups meet a segment of the market in an effective
manner.  It is not deluxe and is
>not sold as such.  Our market research says that a lounge car (at an extra
price in coach class) would
>not be supported by passengers.

On The Overland, I agree. Having travelled from PER to SYD in coach class, I
would beg to differ. The journey times on the I-P and The Ghan are just too
long to expect passengers to remain in their seats for the entire journey
(apart from station stops).

>*       Our coach class carriages are safe, have well maintained bogies and
meet a market segment.

Who said otherwise?

>*       I have no fears about Virgin or any other competitor - it is a free
market economy.

Agreed - and Virgin will kill GSR on the MEL-ADL sector, while GSR will
continue to hold their own on the SYD-ADL-ASP/PER sectors.

>*       First class is a holiday not A to B travel.  You may not like this,
but it is the market segment that
>we meet and meet well.  Comparison to airfares is a nonsense.

Agreed - I have been saying the same thing for years - that is why I
convinced (successfully too) four tennis umpires to travel from SYD to PER
on the IP for the WA Open (rather than fly) - they would arrive in much
better shape, and since 3 of them were from overseas, it would be a great
way to see this fantastic country at the same time.

>Your sincerely,
>
>Stephen Bradford
>Chief Executive Officer

Yeah right - so why was it posted anonymously from Cotse? Surely GSR would
have a general PR department email address they could have used?

Dave