>Could some of you kind folk over East bring me up to
>date on the present and likely future in NSW.
>Is NRC carrying all Interstate Freight North to
>Brisbane and South to Melbourne or is anybody else
>like Freight Rail allowed to join in.
At the moment yes, all North to Brisbane and south to Melb is NRC, no other
competitors yet.
Freightrail run south as far as Bomen on a regular basis,and north as far as
Murwillumbah. (there are irregular trains to clear the silos south of Bomen.)
The PTC run one intrastate SG train Melb-Wodonga each weekday, no PTC freight
trains to Albury anymore.
There would be no reason why Freight Rail could not
compete with NRC on the Melb-Sydney-Brisbane leg although Im not sure it would
make a lot of sense ,since the NSW Govt are a shareholder in NRC. (you dont
compete against yourself)
There would also need to be some sort of deal done to allow thru running of
Freightrail drivers to Melb to make the service competitive.
It would make more sense for Qrail or Westrail to compete as they arnt
signatories to the NR agreement.
>Can NRC "muscle" in on Freight Rail's Coal traffic.
I beleive not, as I understand that at the moment , NRC are prohibited from
carrying intrastate freight, although others may clarify this point.
I beleive also that the NSW Govt wont at the moment allow anyone to compete
with the Hunter Valley Coal haulage, which is odd as they are a signatory to
the Hilmer competition reforms.
They also dont have any useful locos, the NRs are too light to haul coal
trains.
>Any Private Freighters like SCT operating in NSW, if so
>who hauls them around.
SCT are at the moment not operating in NSW, mainly due to problems with Rail
Access. (although they would like to compete against NR on the Melb-Sydney leg.
cheers
MD