Vale Vic Steam (and all special trains?)

[fjones@pipeline.com.au (Frank Jones)]

On Mon, 19 Mar 2001 08:30:48 +1100, "Stuart Thyer"
<s.thyer@anatomy.unimelb.edu.au> wrote:

>>Vale Rail Heritage in Victoria.
>>
>
>While I'd like to deny things you wrote Graeme, they are all true. The worst
>thing about it is I can't remember the last time I actually got involved in
>a restoration project; fighting the BS just to get the next train out the
>gate is all many of us seem to do now days. No one seems to be putting their
>hands up to help with this kind of help, and who can blame them.
>I only hope I can hang in long enough to see to the end of the crap, but
>then I thought that in 1996.
>

There is no doubt that the current situation in Vic. post
privatisation is an absolute shambles.

Operating even the simplest rail tour in Vic. is now a organiser's
nightmare, with the great number of different entities one now has to
deal with (most of which don't seem to know who is exactly responsible
for what). Of course, all the demarcation (and other) problems only
surface 2 days before a tour...

The Rail Tourist Association ran a tour with a FA X class to Colac
last year. Basically a very simple tour, a day trip in 1 crew shift
with loco and 1 car about 150 km each way, clear of regular services -
no more difficult than a return trip to Bendigo. There were major
problems with crewing (which operator had crews qualified in X class
locos?), and carriage accreditation (the originally proposed cars were
'accredited' but this may or may not be recognised by the particular
operator. We were told that if there are 20 different operators, a
particular item of rolling stock has to have 20 accreditation
certificates!!).

To their credit the Dept. of Infrastructure called a meeting in Dec.
last year to try to address some of these issues. Virtually all
interested groups were represented. Many raised issues such as:
- organising a tour months in advance only to be told 2 days
beforehand that no crews are available;
- lack of operating agreements of common rolling stock on various
operators' lines (try running a K class to Camberwell these days!).

It was noted that virtually no thought had been given to heritage
train operators when the system was privatised - although some of
these issues have at least been recognised and moves are being made
towards resolving some of these problems.

Many problems arise from the 'accredited operator' status (or
otherwise) of the various groups. You see, *none* of the groups in
Vic. (unlike say RTM in NSW) are accredited operators in their own
right. They thus have to nominate someone (e.g. FA, VLP) to provide
crews and be the 'accredited operator' on their behalf.

Not only are there insurance issues here (what happens if there is an
accident - who would become responsible?), but also we have the
problem of the OPR (Operational Penalty Regime), where operators are
fined for late running. What happens if an Steamrail special fails at
Ballan and delays a Sprinter? Well, VLP will be looking to recover its
penalty from the operator - but Steamrail isn't the *accredited*
operator, FA might be. Hence FA becomes the 'meat in the sandwich' and
hence technically liable for the fine. Of course, FA in turn would
probably be looking to recover their fine from the 'real' operator,
and the fines are apparently quite substantial.

On a recent suburban DERM tour the RTA was left in NO doubt as to its
fate if we ran even a few minutes late - several checks were known to
have been made on our progress during the day.

I understand that VLP has recently decided it will no longer be
responsible for special trains, I would imagine probably because of
the OPR and other issues. Certainly FA's attitude to special trains
seems extremely reluctant and (in the light of the above paragraph)
even antagonistic.

Other problems arise because of clauses in the privatisation contracts
stating that heritage operators are to be given X km of free track
access. But if VLP is the 'accredited operator' on behalf of Steamrail
for a particular tour, then effectively VLP has to grant free track
access to itself -- but VLP isn't a heritage operator and isn't
entitled to it!! Thus a contradiction is created in the operators'
lease agreements.

What a mess we have created... Kennett's legacy?!?

I'm sure the road transport sector won't mind watching the rail
industry either self-destruct or sink in a sea of regulation over the
next 5 or 10 years....



Frank Jones
President RTA