Re: NSW Opposition claims rail shake-up a step in right direction

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

On Mon, 30 Oct 2000 20:51:56 +1100, Bruce Greening
<bgreeni@attglobal.net> wrote:

>
>
>Maurie Daly wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 30 Oct 2000 02:46:11 GMT, dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David
>> Bromage) wrote:
>>
>> >The NSW Opposition has welcomed the management shake-up at State Rail, but
>> >says it does not go far enough.
>> >
>> >http://www.abc.net.au/news/state/nsw/archive/metnsw-30oct2000-6.htm
>>
>> Im a bit confused here,and I wonder whether Carl Scully and the media
>> is as well.
>> "State Rail" as it seems to be called is now simply a rail operator
>> running over RACs tracks and is subject to maintenance holdups caused
>> by RSA, yet another Rail authority.
>> Whilst there is no doubt that there are major problems within the
>> current State Rail Authority, how much of this is all due to State
>> Rail mismanagement?
>> It seems that the other CEOs  of both RAC and RSA have gotton off
>> scott free.
>> Is Simon Lane simply a convenient scapegoat who has to fall in order
>> that Carl Scully can be seen to be shaking up the Railways generally.
>> If Ron Christie is appointed to head "State Rail" does this mean that
>> he will then no longer be Director General of Rail, ie no longer in
>> charge of RAC / RSA.
>>
>> "State Rail" or whatever you wish to call it , wont be able to
>> function properly until it is re constituted as a vertically
>> integrated railway, which is what it used to be before being broken up
>> into lots of little bits .
>>
>> MD
>
>WRONG
>
>All the government in NSW has ever done is shuffle deck chairs, either with
>structure or CEO. One day maybe (or am I too optimistic) they will learn that
>is what is really needed is
>
>
>   * A change in culture in the industry
>   * Stability so that long term investment plans can be made
>   * A major investment of capital to bring a 19th century railway into the
>     21st century.
>
>--
>Bruce L. Greening
>bgreeni@ibm.net
>
>
Correct , and the above are some of the best reasons I have ever heard
to get Governments out of the Rail industry altogether.
Unfortunately Governments ,both state and federal for that matter have
no interest whatever in long term anythings, especially long term
investment in railways.
They are only interested in what will happen withing their current
term of office , not surprising really.
In reality though there is no chance in hell of any of your above
points ever being implemented ,so we are stuck with making the best of
a pretty bad situation.
Having three separate organizations all responsible for running the
same Govt owned rail system is a total joke , especially when the
three organizations wont talk to each other.
If we have to have a Govt owned railway then it has got to have a
single Boss where the buck can stop , and lets face it , these days it
doesnt stop with the Transport Minister.

MD