>There wasnt any suggestion of unreliability or lack of availability or
>interstate freights daily being cancelled due to no locos available.
There nearly was in WA, we were down to running interstate freighters with
old EE K classes. The "good" 30 year old L's were tied up on the new ore
contacts. (By good I mean no traction motors cutout, maybe even dynamic
brake!) On the shed crew in Kalgoorlie, if a decent L class came in we would
just keep it, and send a broken down one to Perth on a freighter. Westrail
unloaded the freight side just in time. But admittedly that was just in the
west.
Though we were desperately short when NR started. Some of the locos we
worked with were crap, and I'm told it was worse over east.
>Now under NR we are expected to beleive that we need an additional 120
locos to handle the same freight task.
Isn't intrastate freight competition coming in the East? It is here, later
this year we think. I presume NR will be picking up work here and there.
Though I know you research your figures pretty well...
The crew shift length increasing is a worry to me. There is obviously a
limit to how far it can go. We manage 12hr/2 driver easy enough, as we have
nice comfortable, quiet locos to work, and back each other up well. It's how
long the coming DOO shifts will be that concern me. Ex Robe men say they do
12hr+ DOO's up north, and agree it's excessive. Particularly as they do not
have our traffic density.
Paul Pickford
boss@opera.iinet.net.au
http://www.iinet.net.au/~boss