Re: Holistic Govt Rail decisions ????

[mauried@tpg.com.au (Maurie Daly)]

In article <Gsbe5.136$9l1.8154@news0.optus.net.au> dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David Bromage) writes:
>From: dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David Bromage)
>Subject: Re: Holistic Govt Rail decisions ????
>Date: Sat, 22 Jul 2000 06:48:06 GMT

>Maurie Daly (mauried@tpg.com.au) wrote:
>> Interesting article in todays Canberra paper ,where the Lord mayors of both 
>> Sydney & Melb are hassling the Federal Govt to make some sort of decision on 
>> the VHST and quickly.

>> Heres the killer.
>> A spokesman for John Anderson said the decison was taking some time as it was 
>> being made in the wider context of a transport strategy and that when the 
>> decison is made it will be a "holistic decision" ..

>> So fellow readers , what the hell is a holistic decision and is it likely in 
>> this century,

>Reading between the lines, Anderson is trying to decide if the VHST means
>they can avoid making a decision on Badgery's Creek.

>Extending it to Melbourne would take a significant number of flights out
>of Sydney airport. 25% of existing air passengers (or 1.3 million per
>year) moving to Speedrail would free up about 6 slots per hour at Sydney
>(3 takeoff and 3 landing). 10 slots per hour if you include Canberra
>patronage. Probably another 16 slots per day if you include most/all of
>the Albury traffic. There would also be a proportional decrease in air
>traffic in Melbourne and Canberra.

>Taking the VHST to Melbourne would eliminate about 120 aircraft movements
>per day.

>It could be made this century, as there is still 5.5 months of the 20th
>century left (no arguments). The VHST is being presented to Cabinet in
>August.

>Cheers
>David


Well,if the feds spent the same amount of dough building a VHST from Sydney to 
Melb as they seem prepared to spend on Badgerys creek then we could have a 
totally funded railway.

Whats the arrangement for getting a VHST into the center of Melbourne.?
Presumably it will terminate a Spencer St which means either a dedicated track 
thru the suburbs or using in part the existing SG line which would have to be 
electrified to 25 kv AC.
This would rule out any possibility of double stacking in the future.

Also has anyone seen this supposed report which states that a Melb - Sydney 
VHST would take at least 5 hours .
I just wonder what is the basis of the claim.

MD