Re: The future of broad gauge was Ouyen - Pinnaroo line

[dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David Bromage)]

Maurie Daly (mdaly@pcug.org.au) won a Nobel Prize for literature by writing:
> >Benalla - Oaklands could also be justified, and there have been murmuers
> >abourt reopening Springhurst - Wahgunyah.

> Yes but why.
> Benalla- oaklands is wheat which currently goes to geelong.
> Guage converting would allow you to take the wheat to Portland.
> Why do it , Geelong is closer than Portland, no merit at all.

There is stadnard gauge beyond Oaklands, in the same way there is standard
gauge beyond Tocumwal. In the future it could become an alternative route
to Albury.

And again you're only looking at existing grain traffic. Think of future
general freight. Rail America was dismayed at block grain trains running
past disused factory sidings because V/Line simply didn't want to tender
for freight.

There is also coal at Oaklands.

> >Seymour - Albury is also a candidate for regauging. This should give
> >double track, each signalled for bidirectional running. Crossovers on each
> >side of stations mean you don't need additional passenger facilities - you
> >can use the existing stations. I'd dual gauge the up platform at Seymour,
> >and a standard gauge platform may be required at Broadmeadows. The sg
> >platform at Sunshine would need to be upgraded.

> Again , there is no merit in this unless Albury to Junee is duplicated,and 
> with the current train densities in the NE SG this isnt justified.

The intrastate and passenger traffic to Albury make it worthwhile. THe
single track between Junee and Albury reflects the lower traffic density
in that section.

> I can see no reason at all to guage convert Geelong to Mildura or Sunshine to 
> Balaarat.

Agree on Sunshine to Ballarat, but Mildura has a very good case for
standard gauge, especially if it includes Pinaroo. Aside from grain, there
is fruit and superphosphate. If you're going to regauge Ballarat to
Mildura (and Pinaroo), you need to go via Geelong.

> At the risk of sounding heinous Id suggest that NRC totally abandon running 
> steel trains to Long Island and send the steel by ship directly from Pt 
> Kembla.

Time is critical delivery orders of steel. Taking it by ship simply takes
too long. Remember that once the slabs from Port Kembla are rolled at Long
Island, the coils have to go to Adelaide. There is also the BHP rod mill
at Geelong which could benefit from standard gauge.

> Yes , its pretty vital that Webb Dock gets a rail line back and dual guage 
> would be beneficial,but lets not get too carried away.
> How many SG trains are there to Fishermans Island in Brisbane.?
> Not very many ,(less than one per day the last time I looked.)

Patricks operates Webb Dock, and runs its own standard gauge trains. Nuff
said.

Cheers
David