When are people - supporters of public transport in Australia - going to
wake up to the fact - cynical perhaps, but fact nonetheless - that there
are no longer real votes in public transport.
Witness the Adelaide Hills tunnel : $138 millon to save 10 minutes of
TRUCK time and 3 Km of TRUCK tyre wear ! - The same amount of cash
spent on the Adelaide Melbourne line (Or even the Adelaide Murray Bridge
section) would probably save 100 minutes and several Km's. But would
it get votes in real numbers - of course not! The number of truckies
families supported by sympathetic governments directly equates to jobs!
This is why the loss of the AN jobs meant very little in the later part
of last year. Witness that 3000 tonnes of SCT/TOLL/Patrick/NR
(whoever!) Adelaide to Melbourne train is worth about 75 to 80 trucks -
Thats 75 to 80 JOBS versus the 4 or so to make the train happen! We
have a high unemployment rate in Australia. The government is under
pressure to do something about it - so why take loading from a labour
intensive mode and place it on a labour efficient mode ??
Yeah I know - I'm a cynic! But work 22 years in the rail frieght
industry for one of the best systems - then get the rug pulled out from
under you - and not be!
Please - Comments ...... Comments ......
Barry