Re: SCT to Perth, questions

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

On Thu, 23 Nov 2000 16:44:17 GMT, "Dave Proctor"
<daproc@spambait.ozemail.com.au> wrote:

>"Maurie Daly" <mauried@tpg.com.au> wrote in message
>3a1c9c82.3923873@can-news.tpg.com.au">news:3a1c9c82.3923873@can-news.tpg.com.au...
>
>> The other major problem is the timetables , ie trains leaving at
>> particular times thruout the day , and customers having to arrange
>> their delivery requirements to suit the timetables .
>> We need another class of freight trains , one that leaves as soon as
>> it has a certain load , so that a customers freight isnt sitting
>> around at dynon all day waiting for the evening trains to leave.
>
>The problem with this is that there is no indication of the expected arrival
>time. If the train *normally* leaves at a certain time, but it fills up 6
>hours early on one particular day, and therefore arrives at its destination
>6 hours early, and there is nobody at the ultimate end destination to
>receive it, there are then problems.
>

Not really .
If the Railway company is the whole carrier , ie provided door to door
delivery,then all that is required is that when the train gets to the
far end terminal the Railway rings the customer , says your goods have
arrived ,when do you want us to deliver them .
The customer then determines the optimum time to suit themselves.
Obviously this class of train would have to be able to run for a
cheaper rate to attract a customer base happy with this style of
service.
Freight train timetables are largely fiction and give only a general
idea of when trains run , indeed NRC Perth - Sydney trains can quite
often run hours early or hours late .

>Business wants reliability, not necessarily speed. Timetables are the way to
>go, as long as the timetables are realistic and sustainable.

No , if business wants reliability they will use trucks as then the
whole journey and the running time is within their control.
Trains suffer from the whims of train controllers.

>
>The other problem with sending trains on demand is one that is seen at
>Sydney airport with the KST bus services. They will wait until the bus is
>full, and if you are one of the first on board, you can easily wait for over
>30 minutes (and you have already paid, and no refunds). What if the train is
>slow filling up, how long do the first forwarders have to wait?
>
Obviously not all trains would run on demand , customers could still
choose to use timetabled trains if they so wished,but the advantage of
trains which run on demand is that the rail operator can be guaranteed
a full load all the time ,which makes the trains operations costs
lower,hence the saving can be passed onto end customers.
Currently NRC are running their trains the other way around .
Lots of HP up front , very fast trains , attempting to run to
timetables and are losing heaps of money doing it .
Theres gotta be another another alternative.

MD