*Mr. Baragwanath, the Victorian Auditor-General (for now) has released a
critical report on the "privatisation" of West Coast Railways. Some of the
major points follow:-
There was no proof that taxpayers had saved the promised $3m a year.
From Sept,93 to Feb97 WCR had received $20.3m in Gov't subsidies. cf the
PTC lost $5m p.a. on the line when they ran it.
The department sent an interest free $300,000 advance to WCR in 1995 to
cover a short term liquidity problem.
The state is considering "compensating" WCR $1.2m for its cost in gaining
safety accreditation.
Although under no contractural obligation the state reimbursed WCR
$122,000 to offset a 33% federal increase in the cost of fuel. Maintenance
related reimbursments have cost $1m p.a. instead of the expected $512,000.
WCR at times fails to forward passenger revenue in 14 day timeframe.
WCR has never met its punctuality target of 95%. Its best is 89.5%. But
the Government has never imposed penalties because most delays were due to
poor track.
So, we seem to have a private operator that is not private, making a profit
at the states expense running trains that are in the long run
unsustainable.
Don't get me wrong - I love the old B and S classes and I firmly believe
that a train beats a bus any day. But, This is starting to look just a
little fishy.
Comments anyone????
Cheers Krel