Re: Rail chief admits accidents rose when maintenance cut

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

On Thu, 09 Nov 2000 22:40:40 GMT, dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David
Bromage) wrote:

>The risk of train accidents in NSW had increased over the past three
>years due in part to a $125million budget cut to trackside maintenance,
>the Glenbrook inquiry was told yesterday.
>
>http://www.smh.com.au/news/0011/10/national/national3.html

Its hardly surprising when the function of rail maintenance is given
to a Govt owned Corporation ,as distinct to a Govt Authority.
There is a classic conflict of interest in a Corporation in that it is
required to make profits and pay dividends to the shareholders on the
one hand ,and then it is supposed to shell out heaps of money to
maintain the track.
These two requirements are totally in conflict with each other.
The only way that this can be fixed is to set minimum standards for
track maintenance that must be complied with and ensure that there is
a regulator that can ensure that this happens.
Of course ,this doesnt work if the regulator is also a State Govt
appointed body,as it wont have any teeth.
Ther new arrangenment of mergng RAC with RSA is simply window dressing
that wont fix anything.

MD