Re: Smooth Ride

[Greg Rudd <grudd@mail.usyd.edu.au>]

David Johnson wrote:

> Goldie wrote:
>
> > Today I rode to and from town in a QR SMU.
> >
> > Okay, only a single decker, but you don't get ent smother or quiter on heavy
> > rail (or light in my experience, which I admit isn't recent.
> >
> > Given almost similar standards in WA, what are NSW doing wrong to have so
> > many problems (technical and cosmetic).
>
> Lack of funding.  The NSW system is firmly entrenched in the 50's.

Hi all

It is is in the 50's when it comes to operational issues, but is very up to date
when it comes to management issues like outsourcing, downsizing while the management
ranks grow, competition reform where we have agressive customer focuesed
infesturcture maintainence, operating and access companies that don't know what each
other is doing and only concered about cutting costs or providing profits to the
share holders for this financial period only. But the main point is that it allows
"competition" between rail operatiors (obviusly the pollies and the economic
rationalists this that rail must be a captive market ) and can be easly privatised.
Allowing the government to wipe its hands of the whole thing.  For if the govenment
was fair dinkum about keeping the railways in public hands they would not hire such
incompetents to the management ranks.


> QR was lucky
> to have a pro-rail government who brought their standards up to the 90's.  For
> example, Sydney has about 25 permanently staffed signal boxes in the
> Metropolitan area.  Queensland has one

They can thank old Joh for that one.