Re: Mexican railway (Melb - Wagga)

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

On Mon, 06 Nov 2000 06:43:10 GMT, "Peter Berrett"
<pberrett@optushome.com.au> wrote:

>
>Hi all
>
>The Melbourne to Sydney XPT service does Melbourne to Wagga in 4 hrs 15
>minutes approximately.
>
>Here is an extract from the XPT timetable
>
>08:30  Melbourne
>10:23  Benalla
>10:48  Wangaratta
>11:35  Albury
>12:01  Culcairn
>12:15  Henty
>12:30  The Rock
>12:48  Wagga Wagga
>
>Removing stops between Albury and Wagga, it appears that a 1 hour express
>service between the two towns is possible.
>
>Here is an extract from the Vline timetable
>
>Melbourne Spencer St                                                 7.50 AM
>12.00 PM 5.10 PM
>North Melbourne North Melbourne                             5.14 PM
>Broadmeadows Broadmeadows                                  8.08 AM 12.19 PM
>5.32 PM
>Seymour Seymour Stn                                                 8.57 AM
>1.08 PM 6.22 PM
>Avenel Avenel Stn                                                       6.37
>PM
>Euroa Euroa Stn
>9.29 AM 1.38 PM 6.59 PM
>Benalla Benalla
>9.58 AM 2.08 PM 7.30 PM
>Wangaratta Wangaratta                                              10.22 AM
>2.32 PM 7.53 PM
>Springhurst Springhurst                                               10.39
>AM   8.10 PM
>Chiltern Chiltern
>10.49 AM   8.19 PM
>Wodonga Wodonga Stn                                             11.09 AM
>3.14 PM 8.39 PM
>Albury Albury Stn                                                      11.20
>AM 3.30 PM 8.50 PM
>
>Based on the above it seems that an express Melbourne to Albury to Wagga
>train might be able to do Melbourne to Wagga in around 3 hours 30 minutes
>(running on the standard gauge track).
>
>Has Vline Passenger or anyone else considered such a service? Have there
>ever been Melbourne to Wagga trains (ie not as part of a service to Sydney)?
>
>Wagga is probably Australia's largest inland city excluding Canberra. That,
>and the fact that the locals are mad about football would seem to suggest
>that there is a need for a Melbourne to Wagga service.
>
>cheers Peter
>
>ps I think the NSW Govt would be really P***** if such a 'Mexican' service
>was introduced! That alone is reason enough to introduce it!
>
>
>
>
This is a good idea but difficult to implement.
To get 3.5 hours Melb to Wagga requires running at XPT type speeds
which means NXP or who ever would need XPT type trains.
Actually there isnt any major reason why the XPT shouldnt be allowed
to run at 160 km/h in Victoria, espacially on the 60 kg/m track.
If the level crossings are the only problem then a simple cheap fix is
to simply require the XPT to slow down to 130 km/h when it approaches
a crossing and then speed up after passing it , ie merely requires the
addition of a special XPT type speed board which is what Countrylink
did for the tilt train trials.
The other problem is when to run it.
Wagga isnt a good location for terminating trains , especially if the
terminating train is going to sit at the platform for any length of
time as it ties up one of the 1500 M loops .
Might be possible to shunt the train onto the Ladysmith branch but its
a bit of work.

MD