>
>Talk of ROTO reminds me that when I lived near the Temora - Griffith
>line and the Parkes - Broken Hill line was closed by floods west of
>Parkes the Silver City Commet ran Temora - Griffith - Roto. The Indian
>Pacific ran Junee - Griffith - Roto at the same time.
>
>This all raises another concern of mine with closing lines such as
>Broken Hill. Rail is losing alternative routes, thus it becomes less
>reliable, thus it loses more business! Road has alternative routes.
>
>Stephen
Regarding the availablility or non-availability of alternate routes reminds me
of an occurrence quite a few years ago in Victoria.
After a night of heavy rain, rising floodwaters closed the Prices Freeway and
rail line between Melbourne and Geelong *and* the western line between
Sunshine and Ballarat.
Therefore, to get commuters from Geelong to Melbourne, a train was arranged to
travel to Spencer Street via Ballarat, Maryborough, Castlemaine, then the main
Bendigo line to Melbourne! Fortunately for the passengers, by the time the
train arrived in Ballarat, the line via Bacchus Marsh had been reopened, so
the train went that way.
Had there been no alternate routes, Geelong residents would have been cut off
from Melbourne that day.
>
>
Cheers,
John McCallum
e-mail address: mccallum@melbpc.org.au
Phone 03 9478 4254. Member, Melbourne PC User Group.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
(Genesis 3,25)