No wonder rail is in trouble.

[telljb@ozemail.com.au (Terry Burton)]

Just finished reading the Adelaide Advertiser and an
article titled "How the North was won".  It would be
one of the most parochial and self indulgent pieces 
of crap I have read in a long time.

The article is basically saying that South Australia
through its Rail working group, have secured the Feds
financial commitment to the Alice to Darwin line, in
fact their taking the credit for the whole thing, and
the line (trust us now) is as good as built.  
Never mind all the work the NT Govt has put into trying
to get the project going for the last 17 years.!

But this is the bit I liked, (Maurie are you reading
this mate.?), the Tarcoola to Alice Line is now valued
at 500 million bucks, this is to accommodate some
"creative accounting", which goes like this.

The TAS line is worth 500 mil.
The new line is worth 1000 mil.
As 800 mil has already been spent.
(100 mil each NT, SA & Federal + the TAS line)
The debt gearing now looks good at 46 per cent.
Without the 500 mil for the TAS line it is 66 per.

Can you believe this.??? 

Cheers

----Tell
Alice Springs NT