A thumbs up to trains

["Al" <alpout@optusnet.com.au>]

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki (thank god for copy and paste) has put an article up on
his website (http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/trek/s268283.htm) regarding
trains and the benefits of them, particularly compared with trucks for freight
transport.  He even concludes with "Many of the countries in Europe, and
America, are all expanding their rail networks - but in Australia, we're
closing them down. With this kind of "planning", we'll never be The Clever
Country. ".  Now, this guy has a lot of clout, does a lot of stuff on the
radio, been on Good News Week etc.

Also, did anyone watch the doco on the ABC called "The Truckies"?  It aired
last night, 5/4.  What got me was how many illegal things were shown or talked
about on the show (from the in-cab shots of drivers and passengers without
seatbelts), to the appalling hours and distances they cover.  One truckie was
given 2 1/2 days to drive Melbourne-Perth by his freight company, and lost 1/4
day with reloading since the load was overweight.  This ended up with him
having to cover 1400km per day (from Adelaide).  Now, in theory, trucks are
limited to 100km/h, and one driver can only do 12 hours a day, so that's a
maximum of 1200km/day.  Another driver admitted that he used stimulants, until
a crash where he rolled his truck and broke his neck.  What really annoyed me
about the program was that it portrayed the drivers as heroes, but in reality
they're kamikazes.

--
Al Pout

Men are from Earth.

Women are from Earth.

Deal with it.