>
>Just out of curiosity, would using the old alignment be faster than the
>current one? I gather that it was much straighter for several km, and used
>three tunnels to get through some large ridges, that the current line loops
>around.
Yes. The same applies to most of the deviations put into service to ease
grades, often in conjunction with duplication.
For instance, various original formations on the main south between Goulburn
and Binalong; on the west around Tarana; and between Fassifen and Teralba
would be much more direct than the current routes.
An opportunity was missed to reinstate the original route at Fassifern when
electrification occurred.
One real curiosity in NSW practice has been the reluctance to leave in the
old route in the direction which was not grade-challenging. Coincidentally,
such situations would often have meant that the normal left-hand running
rules would have been challenged, and this might have been some
deterrent - but look at Bethungra Spiral and the Frampton deviation,
where the original line was indeed kept for traffic in one direction.
Eddie Oliver