Re: Australian Rail Highway

[G.Lambert@unsw.edu.au (Geoff Lambert)]

"Chris Brownbill" <cbrnbill@enternet.com.au> wrote:

>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.

Here is this morning's Oz story

National linkheralds rebirth
of rail: Sharp

By FIONA CARRUTHERS

THE 140-year battle for control of the railways ended yesterday when
the States agreed formally to set aside their differences and sign up
for a "national rail highway".

The Federal Government has agreed to inject $250 million over four
years into the national system, which is designed to entice more
private investment into rail.

The agreement will see the amalgamation of 22 rail access providers
into one regulator, a move which transport Ministers claimed would
make rail more efficient and cheaper, providing a serious alternative
to freight by road. In the historic move, Mr Sharp evoked the memory
of Sir Henry Parkes, saying a single rail network had been central to
his argument for the States to form a federation.

"One of the things that has bedevilled rail in Australia over more
than 100 years of history Is the fact we've never had a single
national rail network: all of the railways in Australia have been
Primarily based on State jurisdictions," Mr Sharp said.

Heralding the agreement as the beginning of a "renaissance of rail",
Mr Sharp said communication, registration and other systems would now
be brought into line.

"It was Sir Henry Parkes who, in his argument for the development of
federation, argued one of the benefits of federation would be the
establishment of a national rail system," he said.

"Well, 100 years later, we today ... are agreeing to establish that
system."

The national system will be operational from July 1 next year.  Mr
Sharp also signalled the increasing privatisation of the railways,
saying that, "in the end, the private sector will dominate Australia's
railway system". 1

Most of the hundreds of thousands of kilometres of rail tracks remain
aligned on "steam-age" routes, mapped in the late 1800s.
The first interstate rail link was made at Albury on  the NSW-Victoria
border in 1883 (they mean 1873.... and where are those "hundreds of
thousands of kilometres"?).


>My questions are:

These are good questions!  My reading of the news stories was that all
Ministers agreed that this was the greatest thing since sliced bread*.
I also read it as some kind of nation-wide, government-owned track
authority, on which all train operations will be privatised.  Such a
dramatic step seems to have come to us out of left field....
scrounging around in this newsgroup and other "authoritative sources"
reveals no prior hint. 

For the record, the SMH gave it 3 column centimetres.


>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?

To which I might add..... who is going to own and administer it if
it's a track authority?

Geoff Lambert

* What was the greatest thing BEFORE sliced bread, I womder?