cost of standardisation

["geoff dawson" <geoffrey.dawson@aph.gov.au>]

Musings about standardising Victorian railways:
1. someone recently suggested cost of standardising: $16,000 per kim; cost
of dualising: $160,000 per km
For comparison, who knows the approximate cost of building a complete new
trackbed and track, let's say of mainline quality,  without significant
earthworks or  property resumption. (eg, reinstate second track from Geelong
to Ballarat)?
At $16,000 per km, you could standardise the entire VR for the cost of about
1km of urban freeway. By how much should the basic cost be inflated to allow
for points and sidings etc?
2. Dualising or standardising lines used by passenger trains raises the
problem of clearances at station platforms. Which side should the solitary
(dual) or unmoved (standardised) rail be vis-a-vis the platform? Does this
matter? It suggests a need for the SG line to displace itself sideways with
an S-bend by 6.5 inches here and there (as compared with the BG alignment),
depending on what side the platforms are.
How much distance is necessary to do this with a sufficiently gentle curve?
Who knows a formula to relate the radius of curve, the length of arc and the
sideways displacement? Ie, given a straight line, an arc of radius x and
angle y (such that the line is a tangent), what is the perpendicular
distance from the end of the arc to the line?
3. Standardising on curves: the moved rail in its new position makes a curve
of fractionally smaller radius. Can the rail still be used? Ie is the rail a
bit elastic?

Regards, Geoff