>Tom.Jones@sawasdi.apana.org.au (Tom Jones) wrote:
>[snip]
>>Rail (best case)
>>1 day to land the container in Darwin and move to rail head where it's loaded
>>2 day to travel to Adelaide by rail
>>1 day to collect from rail head and take to port for loading
>>Total of 4 days
>>Sea (using 17.5 knot ship)
>>5 days from SEA to Adelaide
>The Dream is, Darwin will become the Container Port for
>Australia with double stack Trains spearing off West at
>Tarcoola, East at Crystal Brook and South to Adelaide.
This assumes of course that the National Good outweighs the States idea of
what is good for them , and that we get universal cooperation , which up until
now has never happened.
After AN is sold , and the Feds flog off their share of NR,then you can forget
forever any more federal funding for rail.
Sending double stack trains east of Crystal Brook is a waste of time , simply
as theres nowhere for them to go.
Double stack trains cant run to brisbane,sydney of melb , which are the 3
busiest ports at the moment , and are unlikely too in the next 100 years or so.
Every time the feds have made noises about building Alice to Darwin , they
have always found compelling economic reasons for not going ahead, and the
will continue to do so.
Once AN is sold it will be the private sectors problem.
Sorry for being so cynical, but its all been head before.
MD