Re: Overland loading

["James C" <noemail@emailsux.com>]

Andrei Souprounovich <andrei@ausisp.com> wrote in message
39708E9E.D589E943@ausisp.com">news:39708E9E.D589E943@ausisp.com...
> John Duncan McCallum wrote:
>
> > Chris Brownbill wrote:
> > >
> > > Well they closed most of the intermediate stations last year, so if
you live in
> > > Stawell, Murtoa, Nhill, Kaniva, Wolseley, Keith, Tintinara or Tailem
Bend you
> > > don't have the option of catching the Overland - not even a
conditional stop!
> >
> > I am surprised that Stawell was eliminated as an Overland stop.
> > Of all the towns listed, Stawell has the largest population.
> > The last time I looked, I think Stawell was larger than Ararat.
>
> from "Towns in Time: Data ... Census statistics for Victoria's towns ... "
> Dept of Infrastructure, April 1999.
>                                    Overland
> 1996 populations:           stops
> Stawell       6,272
I can see Stawell is a major town just by the look of it. The town is quite
spread out. Overland didn't miss Ararat nor Dimboola, but it have trouble to
attract passsengers at those towns. Last time I noticed no one got on at
Aratat and Dimboola.

> Murtoa          839
> Nhill            1,890
> Kaniva           765
> Ararat         6,890           X
> Dimboola    1,557           X
> Horsham   12,591           X
> Geelong  127,081           X
Tailen Bend is also a major stop, IIRC Tailen Bend is just as big as Murray
Bridge and Border Town, but Overland choose to bypass it.

While taking more Adelaide-Melbourne end to end passengers may be good for
financial situation of Overland. Ignore towns with potential won't help in
the long term.

Cheers
James