Your not on your own there - many towns and cities have seen rail
employment numbers plummet over the past few years. Albury had 900 staff in
1961 and about 100 still in 1990, now there are about 20 most of whom work
for Countrylink.
Do you think that AN would still have over 200 employees in the Alice if
they were still running interstate freight ? I doubt it and if they did it
would be running against their history as the most innovative and leading
Rail Authority before NRC ;-)
>
> Privatisation and National Rail Corp did NOTHING for
> Alice Springs, and very soon AN as the original
> Corporate Body will disappear for ever.
NR has maintained a container terminal in Alice Springs and added a small
driver depot (in AN days crews relayed in and out from Port Augusta). I
believe that the throughput of TEUs has increased slightly over last couple
of years.
>
> Oh ..... by the way, NR have a hand full of employees
> based here. Of course they have taken advantage of the
> infrastructure built by CR-ANR-AN and are now telling
> us and the Politicians how efficient and cost effective
> they are.!
NR s biggest advantage was that it was not burdened with ANs massive debt
repayments. AN could probably have made a go of interstate freight but the
other states didn't take up the option of a wholesale handover to the feds.
If all states had joined AN right from the start I doubt rail freight in
Australia would be in such a mess as it was four or five years ago.
>
> Cheers
>
> ---- Tell
> Alice Springs NT
>
> CR-ANR-AN ...Almost gone but not forgotten.
> Australian Pioneers of the Long Heavy Haul.
>
>
CR-ANR-AN ...Almost gone but NEVER forgotten.
-- Cheers Krel"The Universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine" - Clarkes second law. Railway rules and regulations are the same.