Re: VIC government probe into standard guage

[John Duncan McCallum <mccallum@melbpc.org.au>]

There makes no sense whatsoever to gauge convert the passenger network. 
Hence, Melbourne to Warrnambool, Ballarat, Bendigo, Seymour, Sale and
the suburban
area should remain broad gauge. True, there would be some inconvenience
to freight
traffic on the Gippsland and Warrnambool lines, but through freight
traffic on these
lines is rather small. The suburban area should definitely remain broad
gauge.
All other lines not already standard gauge could be standardised with
little disruption.
The only passenger services that would need to be standard gauged would
be the Albury
and Shepparton services. Having a separate standard gauge fleet for
these two lines
would not be too much of a hassle. It may be necessary to obtain one
more train set
though to ensure a spare set without leave the broad gauge network
short.
This would also keep some lines available for steam specials to operate
on.

-- 
==========================================
John McCallum, member Melbourne PC User Group,
email <mccallum@melbpc.org.au>