>One part of the report seemed to be centred on Goulburn. The piece of the
>main south shown looked to be around Medway/Marulan area. Several rotten
>sleepers were shown, with only about one in four being sound. The dog
1 in 4 is considered acceptable (at least for a class 4 branch line !) as
long as the rotten sleepers can still hold the weight. The one in 4 good
sleepers hold the guage. What you increasingly see in the country area's
is 1 in 4 steelies, they hold the guage and the remaining timber ones
just need to hold up the rail.
>An XPT travelling over this length of track showed the track lifting as the
>train passed over it.
A lot of track does this when it ballast has settled. It needs tamping,
but tamping will break the 3 in 4 bad sleepers!
A mainline should be maintained to a mainline standard, the main south
at class 4 standards might be allowable by the rules, but its certainly
doesnt make sense from a traffic perspective.
Ive been on an XPT that travelled for several kms over unballasted, unlined
and leveled track. Speed was about 10km/hr! Nice sleepers. New concrete ones
but the track hadnt been balasted and lifted at that point.