Re: Overland to continue 4 another 2 years

["Peter Berrett" <pberrett@optushome.com.au>]

Good to see that we can find some common ground here Maurie.

Interestingly I don't think the issue of a VFT or at least faster travelling
times between Melbourne and Sydney is entirely dead and buried. Firstly
there has been recent lobbying for faster services to Albury by Mitchell
Shire Council. It is hard to see how the Victorian Government can overlook a
high speed Albury service when it will be facilitating higher speed services
to Ballarat, Bendigo, Traralgon and Geelong. Secondly the ATEC railway will
see a high speed rail link to Wagga commencing construction this year.

http://www.theage.com.au/business/2001/04/30/FFXU93PO3MC.html

If you think about it Melbourne to Wagga constitutes about a third of a
medium speed rail link from Melbourne to Sydney. The XPTs should be able to
reduce current Melbourne to Sydney times by following the new high speed
route. I think there is potential for the NSW Govt to gain leverage off this
development by making upgrades to the Sydney to Wagga rail line.

Currently the XPT does Sydney to Wagga in about 6 hours. Time Sydney to
Melbourne is 4.15 mins so total journey time is currently about 10 hours 15
minutes. Note that there are 15 or so stops along the way.

At 200kmh+ a tilt train should be able to do Wagga to Melbourne in about 2
hours 15 minutes. Adding that to the 6 hour Sydney to Wagga leg gives a
total of 8 hours 15 minutes. Eliminating 10 or so stops on the trip could
cut another half hour off the trip so an express trip of Melbourne to Wagga
to Sydney should be possible in 7 hours 45 minutes.

I do not know how fast a tilt train could travel on existing NSW track -
perhaps those familiar with the tests done by Countrylink could comment on
how long a tilt train could do Sydney to Wagga on existing track.

At the end of the day I can see several hours being shaved off the Melbourne
to Sydney route. With a bit of expenditure by the NSW Govt we may well see a
sub- 6hr express trip in the not too distant future.

cheers Peter













"Maurie Daly" <mauried@tpg.com.au> wrote in message
3b231ac7.23910680@can-news.tpg.com.au">news:3b231ac7.23910680@can-news.tpg.com.au...
> >
>
> Absolutely correct, and I agree that if a VFT was funded by the
> National Govt then it would most likely be successful.
> However the National Govt of this country , both Labor and Liberal ,
> have made it abundantly clear that they have no intention whatsoever
> of funding VFTs , merely stating that they will "support " private
> sector proposals as long as such proposals are revenue neutral to the
> Govt , ie wont cost any taxpayers money.
>
> This means that any VFTs will have to be totally paid for by the
> private sector and in a country like Australia this wont work with our
> small populations  and big distances.
> The best that can be hoped for is small incremental improvements in
> the existing infrastructure .
> We have seen some progress in this regard with improvements to running
> times between Melb and Adelaide,and things could be improved a little
> more .
> We arnt however seeing any improvements in Melb - Sydney or Sydney -
> Brisbane.
> Instead , hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on building
> railway lines to Darwin for 1 train a day .
>
> MD
>
>
> MD
>
> >
> >
> >
> >"Maurie Daly" <mauried@tpg.com.au> wrote in message
> >3b22c311.1452488@can-news.tpg.com.au">news:3b22c311.1452488@can-news.tpg.com.au...
> >>
> >> You keep using this phrase "support a very fast train".
> >> What exactly do you mean by this.?
> >> People will support any kind of transport medium if they arre willing
> >> to pay the fares .
> >> How about you provide me and the rest of the readers of this newsgroup
> >> with a full economic anaylsis of a Sydney - Melb VFT.
> >> You could include such items as
> >> 1/ The total capital cost of building such a line .
> >> 2/ The total cost of all the necessary land acquisitions.
> >> 3/ Types of finance sought.
> >> 4/ Annual interest payments on the borrowed capital.
> >> 5/ Capital cost of a fleet of train sets.
> >> 6/ Estimated monthly passenger counts.
> >> 7/ Running costs / electricity costs / maintenence costs / salaries.
> >>
> >> From all the above , you will be able to come up with some fares .
> >> I will be fascinated to see the results .
> >>
> >> MD
> >>
> >>
> >> .
> >
> >
>