>Maurie Daly wrote:
>>
>Shoudl I snip the stuff below?... nah....
>> In article <353F2D76.8B9BC01@ozemail.com.au> David Johnson <trainman@ozemail.com.au> writes:
>> >Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 22:00:54 +1000
>> >From: David Johnson <trainman@ozemail.com.au>
>> >Subject: Re: My trip to Adelaide (was The overland - input wanted)
>>
>> >Maurie Daly wrote:
>>
>> >> The number of passengers requiring to travel on a daily basis between melb and
>> >> Adelaide is a function of the size of the two population centres, it has very
>> >> little to do with how fast the trains travel.
>I can't agree with this statement. A certain percetage of passengers are
>time sensitive. At my work a number of us travel to Sydney and Canberra
>for conferences, meetings etc. my colleagues would not consider using
>the train because of the time of the journey. With the plane they can be
>there and back in the same day.
>Likewise people going to the footy interstate - they can be there and
>back in the same day.
>When rail can offer this standard of service ie airline standard with
>good service & meals and a 3-4 hour trip each way then it will pick up a
>sigificant number of passengers.
>> >> As an example , back in the 1970s we had 3 trains per day in both directions
>> >> between Melb and Sydney and two trains per day between Sydney and Brisbane.
>3? I only recall the Southern Aurora and the Spirit of Progress. I dont
>recall which was the day one and which the night but I don't recall a
>third train. Mind you I was only young then. What was the third train?
>> >>
>> >> Now both lines run XPTs , which run the services many hours faster than their
>> >> predessors but in both cases we have less trains per day , not more.
>>
>> >This is due to the lack of availabilty of trains, not due to a lack of passenger
>> >demand.
>I'd argue that airline deregulation might have had an effect.
>>
>> Only from the perspective of Countrylink.
>> There no reason why any other operator cannot run more passenger trains
>> between Melb - Sydney and Brisbane in competition to Countrylink if they so
>> choose to.
>> Even GSR or WCR or the PTC could run passenger trains if they wanted to, they
>> just dont want to , simply because it isnt economic to do so.
>>
>> cheers
>> MD
>Bring on Virgin railways!
>cheers Peter
There is no doubt that if enough money was spent on upgrading the Melb to
Adelaide line then it would eventually lead to reduced travelling times and
also to a greater number of passengers , but to what end.
These increased passengers will come from the existing airlines and from the
bus companies.
In the case of the airlines since we already have airports at Melbourne and
Adelaide and both are underutilised (Sydney is the only Airport in Australia
that is near its max capacity.).,what is the point of spending buckets more
money to simply provide another way to get from Melb to Adelaide.
There is no suggestion that Melb or Adelaide Airport are anywhere near to max
capacity,nor is the Dukes Highway between Melb and Adelaide grinding to a halt
from excessive busses .
The argument would be somewhat differant between Melb and Sydney as in this
case any actions to reduce the number of Airline movements at Sydney Airport
is worth doing , ie if we could get an improvement in the Melb - Sydney rail
system it would be worth spending money on.
Sadly this isnt going to happen , as the majority of Melb - Sydney is under
the control of RAC who up until now have shown no inclinination to spend
anything on upgrading or improving the main southern line,and you cant expect
the feds to do it ,whilst its owned by someone else.
cheers
MD