Re: [NSW] More Complaints on CityRail Southern Highlands

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

"Geoff Lillico" <glillic@msn.com.au> wrote in message
JYEQ6.26123$hV3.36289@newsfeeds.bigpond.com">news:JYEQ6.26123$hV3.36289@newsfeeds.bigpond.com...
> David
> I think you have been living in Bowral for too long. Decentralisation is now
> dead and buried. It costs TOO MUCH to provide the infrastructure to these
> remote areas.

Like how CityLink in Melbourne cost $2.2B for "22km" of road, a lot of which
was just adding extra lanes onto already existing roads (eg Monash and Tulla
Fwy's), but the whole Pacific Hwy upgrade from Hexham to the Queensland border
(~700km) comes in for about the same amount.  CityLink - $100M per km, Pacific
Hwy $3 142 857 per km.  And I'd hazard a guess and say that more people will
benefit from the highway upgrading than CityLink.  (Whether either of them is
a good option is not the issue I'm trying to address here, even in a rail
newsgroup).


> Not only transport, but other services such as sewerage, power
> and the like.

People's attitudes have to change as to what's acceptable.  Most houses can
become totally energy self-sufficient, through smarter use of power and
generating features such as solar cells and wind turbines, and I'm perfectly
happy to live in a location without reticulated power, water and sewer.

> There are far more commuters travelling between Kiama and
> Wollongong than those even from Picton, let alone Bowral, Mittagong or Moss
> Vale. In time these areas will receive improved services and that time may
> not be as far off as you infer. In the meantime you and your silvertail
> neighbors will be stuck with the train service that was there when you
> decided to move to the Southern Highlands. You would have room to complain
> if the frequency was now worse, but I suspect that it is in fact now better
> and will get better in the future.

So what that prevents is any kind of planning to prevent centralisation and
redistribute population.  It is a lot easier to build the infrastructure early
and let the population grow around it, than to put in suitable infrastructure
after the population has grown in an area.  Just look at the difference
between Sydney and Melbourne - Melbourne has some planning, Sydney's just
grown out from where the First Fleet landed.

The other advantage that improving the Southern Highlands line is that it will
lead to interstate improvements between Sydney and Melbourne.  The same could
be said for Sydney-Newcastle-Brisbane.

> Governments are faced with a two-edged sword when it comes to spending money
> on transport improvements. If the service to a government electorate is
> improved, they are accused of supporting their voters; if they improve the
> service to an opposition held electorate they are assused of attempting to
> buy votes.

Agreed. Hitler and Stalin probably would have had an easier time in government
than any democracy.

> The plain facts of the current debate are that the population of
> areas such as Albion Park, Oak Flats, Minnamurra and Kiama have increased in
> recent year FAR MORE than the Southern Highlands, despite its modest
> increase. Furthermore the money now earmarked for improved services on the
> Bondi Junction to Hurstville route will service a THREEFOLD increase in high
> density housing adjacent to Rockdale and Hurstville stations in the last 5
> years.
>
> David, I can assure you that the Southern Highlands line is not the only
> CityRail services disrupted by trackworks on weekdays. Just ask any commuter
> trying to travel over the Harbour Bridge or around the City Circle after 10
> pm on Mondays to Thursdays!

Or driving on any road with roadworks.  How often do you go driving, get
halfway there, and find the road closed?  At least the trains try to give some
forewarning of what's going to be happening where and when.

Al