Re: Newcastle realignment

["Bradley Torr" <btorr@bigpond.nospam.com>]

David Bromage wrote in message ...

>Electrifying Macarthur to Moss Vale would be a useful starting point.


Yes! This would be excellent... but as you mentioned to me before, provision
for electrification hasn't been made on the Main South past the Glenlee
branch (bridge heights, etc.) I have always thought it odd that the Main
South is the only intercity line not to have been electrified - surely if
the Blue Mountains can be electrified (with a population catchment of about
50,000), surely the southern highlands (without about 75,000 people) should
be electrified as well? Now that Wollondilly Shire is officially part of the
Sydney metropolitan area (and I would suspect Wingecarribee Shire not too
far behind - or perhaps it could become a metro area in its own right) it
might be something worth looking into.

Also, this would have the effect of greatly improving service regularity and
speed for commuters in the south-western suburbs..... while people in
Hornsby, Penrith and Sutherland can catch intercity services express to
Central, while people in Campbelltown have to put up with the poor excuse of
a rail line called the East Hills line... has anyone ever caught a train
from Campbelltown to Central in peak hour? The train is full by Macquarie
Fields! And even the so-called 'express' service stops at stations which it
should just fly through, like Riverwood Padstow and Kingsgrove.....

Oh well, my rant on south-western railway services should be left to another
thread...

Regards,
Bradley.
Who now lives in Wollongong and enjoys the V-set expresses up to Sydney.