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Australian Rail Highway



Can somebody please explain exactly the meaning of the TV news story titled
"Australia's Rail Highway" I have just seen on ABC TV.  It makes no sense
to me.

The story claims that today at a meeting of all State and Federal Transport
ministers, an agreement was signed that would see by mid next year all
Australian Railways amalgamated into one!  It also stated that this would
reduce the number of railways from the present 22 systems.  

The story also claimed that the federal government would spend $250million
to improve the rail infrastucture, and that the State Governments would
also chip in some funds too.  The words spoken by the illustrious State
transport ministers were along the lines of "This is a great day for rail
in Australia", and "This will bring much new traffic to rail" etc etc.

My questions are:

What on earth is this all about?
Whose idea is it?
What are the current 22 Australian railway systems?
Who would own this new national system?
How does this fit with State track Access regimes?
How does this sit with the recently announced sale of AN and the proposed
sale of V/line.
Will this be a rail operator or just a trackage owner?
Over what period is the $250mil of Federal money to be spent and on what?
How much extra funds will the States chip in?
Does this include metropolitan rail systems?
What about private mineral lines such as in WA?
In what dingy back room of what hotel was this plan hatched?