Re: Indian Pacific passengers work up head of steam

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

On Sat, 31 Mar 2001 11:17:04 +1000, John MacCallum
<engineman@ozemail.com.au> wrote:

>As I understand it there is no responsibility for delays
>to others trains following a de-railment or even a track
>failure. Similar to what the situation is with road users.
>If a truck overturns and blocks the Hwy. for half a day the
>thousands of other road users that are inconvenienced or
>delayed have no recourse.

Perfectly true , but in the case of a truck overturning and blocking
the Hume Highway the highway would be re opened in a matter of hours .
The WA line was closed for 3 days.
In a vertically integrated rail regime where the rail owner is also
the only rail operator ,then it doesnt matter if there are delays in
re opening the line as it will only affect the rail operator.

Also , in the road case , people arnt paying a fee to use the road ,
on an individual basis , ie for every trip , whereas rail operators
are effectively "buying a product", by paying a track access fee,
which gives them the right to use the track.
If they cant use the track for the purposes which for which they paid
the fee, then at the least they should be entitled to some
compensation.

Under the present arrangement, the track owner can take as long as
they like to clear the track ,and its just too bad for the rail users.
The Melb - Adelaide line was closed for 3 weeks when the bridge fell
on it , rail users lost millions and no one cared.

Could you imagine the Hume Highway being closed for 3 weeks .
No chance in hell.

MD



>I read the article in the SMH about all the people on the
>Indian that were thoroughly pissed off about the delays.
>
>Yes there should be alternative routes and all lines should
>be fenced from live stock and all Level Crossing should be
>protected by Lights and Booms. The money has not been made
>available to provide for these Infrastructure improvements
>so therefore SHIT still happens!
>
>As for the Whingers on the Indian they can get knotted.
>
>Cheers
>
>John
>Maurie Daly wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 30 Mar 2001 14:59:23 +1000, "tony bailey"
>> <mercuryworldtvl@one.net.au> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>> GSR should charge the car owner! _ I Hope he has plenty of insurance.
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Tony Bailey
>>> Mercury World Travel
>>> Mercury Travel Books
>>> mercuryworldtvl@one.net.au
>>> "David Bromage" <dbromage@fang.omni.com.au> wrote in message
>>> news:3AC3F631.8CC7C689@fang.omni.com.au...
>>> 
>>>> Angry passengers on the Indian Pacific will lodge written complaints
>>>> demanding refunds after a "nightmare" ride from Perth. The train was
>>>> delayed in Perth for three days after a derailment, and again after
>>>> hitting a car at a level crossing near Orange about 4am yesterday.
>>>> 
>>>> http://www.smh.com.au/news/0103/30/national/national9.html
>>> 
>>> 
>> Isnt it interesting.
>> Everyone is commenting that the car owner is responsible for  the
>> delays.
>> What about the derailment in WA,which caused 3 days delay.
>> Who should GSR charge for this delay??
>> 
>> MD
>