>David Johnson <trainman@ozemail.com.au> wrote in article
><33C4F962.6F97BB4C@ozemail.com.au>...
>> David Johnson wrote:
>> >
>> > Maurie Daly wrote:
>> >
>> > > At the moment we have 2 IPs per week , one countrylink train per
>> > week and one
>> > > NR train per week,(SP5/PS6).
>> >
>> > I think this train runs daily. (SP5/6)
>>
>> SP5 runs via Broken Hill on Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat out of Sydney.
>> The return workings depart Perth on Sun, Mon, Tue, Fri, Sat.
>>
>> There is also a train on Mondays from Parkes to Adelaide.
Thanks for this , my understanding of the number of SP / PS trains
must be way off, can you give me the departure/ arrival times for
the SP/PS trains ex Sydney / into Sydney.Since Yass Junction has been
unnattended its been a lot harder to figure out whats running and when.
>>
>Are there any FreightCorp train crews left at Ivanhoe? How many hang on at
>Broken Hill or is it all run from Parkes ?
There would only be freightcorp crews for the IPs , no freightcorp trains west
of Bogan gate, wheat trains only to Tottenham.
Ivanhoe crews used to work to Broken Hill & Parkes , but you have to wonder
how long the town will continue to exist, considering it hasnt got a school or
bank anymore.
>I think the SA/AS trains were rerouted for a number of reasons including -
> Better crew utilisation.
Same numbers of crew required, (4 pairs each way.)
Sydney ==> Coota West.
Coota west ==> Condobolin.
Condobolin ==> Broken Hill.
Broken Hill ==> Adelaide
Sydney ==> Junee
Junee ==>Melb
Melb ==> Dimboola
Dimboola ==> Adelaide
Although its probably a bit cheaper to utilize the Junee / Melb /Dimboola
crews.
> Overnight Sydney/Ettamogah service for ANM Paper traffic.
What train picks up this loading ?
> Excess loading from Melbourne to Perth can be picked up by SA5 and then
>double stacked on to MP5 in Adelaide (hence less MP6s need to run).
> The reverse at Parkes was very expensive as an army of
>signallers/shunters, etc required to split and reverse the train. The
>triangle option was priced out of the running.
This still applies for the SP/PS trains .
Id really like to know the real story here, NRs option wasnt a very expensive
proposal at all, just 2 ground frames and 2 intermediate staff instruments,
wouldnt have cost much at all, I suspect the real problem is the Rail Access
Corp which doesnt want any improvements,or insists on a full bells & whistles
solution,(track circuiting the triangle , power points and power signals on
all legs , a real overkill,) which begs the question,whose responsibilty is
it to effect rail improvements in NSW anyway, surely its not the customers.
I wonder if the real thorny issue is the track access charges levied in NSW
and the object of the exercise is to minimise the number of ntk/s accumulated
in NSW at the expense of accumulating more in VIC.Does the PTC publish any
track access charges?
The problem with running trains via Melb / Adelaide is the shocking alignment
thru the Adelaide Hills and the severe grades , which really mean poor
running times and costlier trains due to the higher HP/Tonne needed.
Basically any Melb / Adelaide train will need at least 2 X NR for any load
above 1750 tonnes, since most trains are over 1750 tonnes , but a lot less
than 3500 tonnes then all Melb /Adelaide trains will be overpowered, just to
get over 35 kms of rising 1:45 thru the Adelaide hills.
In a way its a real pity that Griffith to Roto was pulled up.(actually
Hillston to Roto)
I just wonder if it still existed today and was upgraded to
category 1 line status we would have seen trains running via Albury / Junee /
Griffith / Roto / Broken Hill, (makes the mind boggle.)
> I believe the running time difference is not very much considering
the >safeworking stops required from Coota West to the Hill and the reversing
>move at Parkes. From the customers point of view nothing much happened - >it
is still a two night, one day service.
Pretty slow for 1700 km,(35 hours) works out at an average speed of 48 km/h,
no hope of competing against road freight.
The running time would be similar if there was a triangle at Tottenham to
allow thru running .
Currently all the thru trains run into Dynon , reverse and then run out again.
Some of them sit at Dynon for quite some time , for example
NP2 , 7 hours
BA6 , 9 1/2 hours
SA5 , 2 hours.
AS6 , 3 hours
I dunno why.
Theres also the limitation caused by the restricted number of NRs that can
lead in Victoria, basically means that a thru Melb - Perth train has to do a
loco shuffle in Adelaide to make sure that a ASW equipped loco doesnt head for
Perth,or you end up with the situation that there arnt enuf ASW equipped locos
to lead trains out of Adelaide.
Makes a mockery of the NR ideal to have a class of loco that can run
everywhere in the country.
Whilst NR is stuck with loco quarantining,due to idiot State rules they will
never get the best utilization out of their loco fleet.
cheers
MD
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Maurie Daly
Department of Communications Lab.
Canberra
Australia
mauried@commslab.gov.au
ph 6 2791331
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