>It seems that at least one of the consortia interested in building the
>NT Railway want to run it direct to East Arm Port, with a connecting
>line to a passenger terminal at Palmerston or Casuarina (!), ignoring
>the city centre altogether. It'll be interesting to see what effect
>this has on the city, too.
>Tell, have you heard anything down there about this?
No ........nothing on that. More to the point, the
three "finalists" now have to come up with detailed
studies and plans. We will have to wait.
I am unaware of any proposals to run the line anywhere
near Darwin City Centre. When Australian National
Railways planned their route years ago, it was to run
directly to East Arm Port, they bypassed the old route
through Parap and down under the Daly Street bridge to
the old Darwin Station in favour of a goods only line
to the new port facility.
I have often wondered whether the Standard Gauge track
on Fort Hill Wharf has led people to believe that the
long awaited SG would follow the old narrow gauge down
to the Stokes Hill / Fort Hill wharves.
Of course ANR/AN are dead, so it stands to reason that
any potential builder of the new line will do what they
consider is in their interests, however I doubt they
will stray far from ANR's plans which were FREIGHT
orientated and passenger trains were not considered.
Keep in mind that the Ghan, Indian Pacific, Trans
Australian and Overland were losing big money back then
and creaming off most of what they made on freight.!
Mind you if the line is built, an enterprising
organisation will make a killing if they put
together an Adelaide to Darwin "Discovery" Passenger
train, what an experience that would be after all these
years. A once in a lifetime trip for sure. ;-)
----Tell
Alice Springs NT