>What what will happen to this once great railway system now that it is
>wide open to competition in the open market?
One can only anticipate that as there is no longer any restrictions
upon pricing of haulage, FreightCorp is in a better position to become
more competetive.
The freight side of State Rail had been politically hampered for many
years in being competetive. Pricing structures were set at a level to
allow for greater ease by road hauliers to win haulage contracts.
Since these restrictions were removed on July 1, 1996, FreightCorp is
now in a position to be truly competetive and to set their own
pricing. They can now submit a coal haulage tender to a colliary for
example, at fixed or flexible rates negotiated between the two parties
for any set period of time.
There has been increased activity within the operation recently such
as an additional `speed freight' to Blainey, more oil supplies going
west by rail, and so on. This was not possible previously as past
governments actively encoured more road transport.