Re: XPT service ? Jack.

["Jack" <bd107@tsn.cc>]

David Proctor wrote in message
<75altd$p92$1@reader1.reader.news.ozemail.net>...
>Jack wrote in message <75a5rv$8di$1@reader1.reader.news.ozemail.net>...
>
>>To service the pple of the Clarence?
>
>But they are already well serviced by NT1 and NT3

U may know this..... ticketing is not my forte..... but aren't there
restrictions on NT1 and NT3 for people Garfton and south thereof.....
Particularly on 1 and 2 i think there is a quota for north of casino


- and, according to 4
>PSS's and 6 SPA's, all of whom regularly work NT25 and NT26, the numbers
>that travel north of Coffs Harbour is miniscule.

30 to 50 is not too shabby..... some days less but that is what u can expect
on most days.....   holidays sometimes 70 or 80


 You may as well argue "Why
>not run it to Lismore, why not run it to Murwillumbah, etc.

Lismore and then coaches would be smart...... send NT3 to Brisbane....
solves a myriad of problems

>> For
>>>historical reasons? The major population centre on the North Coast os
>Coffs
>>>Harbour. By truncating this service at Coffs Harbour,
>>
>>tell me how u crew it..... where do they stay?  motel?
>
>They used to - when the train previously left Sydney at 1205, there was
>insufficient time at Grafton to give the crew adequate rest - so they took
>them off at Coffs Harbour.

They did...


There is also precedent for the use of hotels -
>the Sydney based SPA's that work ST1/2/3/4 stay at a hotel in Melbourne,

They have 1 driver and 1 spa stay at Melbourne.... and the driver only  1 in
3 trains

 and
>the Sydney based PA's on ST1/2/3/4 stay at hotels in Albury.

Bit more research required on that....... Albury barracks still going strong


 With
>Countrylinks purchasing power (guaranteed, 4 rooms, every night, hotels
>would be falling over each other to get the contract) they can guarantee a
>great deal.


You would be surprised..... when  Countrylink did up the Grafton Barracks
and motels were required for 16 people per day for 3 months.... trust me
..... the operators of the motels were not falling over each other to get
the contract....  2 applied and 1 of em you wouldn't let a dog stay in... In
Sydney recently they did up the A/C at the barracks... to supply 6 beds per
night for 1 month was 90 per night  per bed


>  Ok 6 crew by 365
>>days a yerar in a motel.... mate there is no money to maintain em and ya
>>want to blow more on accomodatio for the crews
>
>Okay, now that we are on the subject of money, what about wages saved from
>reduced working hours?

Have a think...... I don't think there would be...  who is going to clean
the set?  Answer the staff...

A departure from Sydney of, say, 90 minutes later, is
>90 minutes less working time. An arrival in Sydney 90 minutes earlier -
that
>is 3 hours saved per crew member - a crew of 6 - driver,

mileage payments come into it..... plus the work of stowing fuelling etc is
payed above the mileage...

PSS, SPA, 3xPA - 18
>hours saved per day over the course of a year -

saved hours a bit inflated but can't argue that

plus diesel fuel saved,
not a great deal...... not as much as people might think..... one heavy
climb out of Coffs then more or less   coasting to grafton in 2 and 3 notch

and
>more maintenance time in Sydney for the set between ST2 and NT25, and
>similiarly the next day between NT26 and ST1 - this all looks like it could
>add up to a lot of bucks over time.
>
>.... while I'm there where
>>would u stow the set?
>
>It would be a relatively simple and not inexpensive task to reinstate a
>storage siding - after all, it would not have to be up to high-speed
>standards.

It's not as simple as that..... firstly with signalling on the northcoast
and the way Coffs is now an intermediate station ..... i don't think u could
put a siding back in without huge costs and re arranging the signalling
there.... I don't know of an intermediate siding on the CTC part of the
coast that allows u to open a frame without part of the train being left on
the mainline.....  oh and it would need a shore supply...


>>Cant's argue with getting it home earlier
>>
>> Several friends who are PSS's
>>
>>Must be Taree PSS's coz syndy don't work NT25.... and there is only 4 of
em
>
>But Sydney PSS's work NT26. I am aware that Taree PSS's work NT4, return on
>NT25.

and also NT25/NT4 round trip Grafton.....  just another small problem

>> and SPA's have told me that
>>>the minimal loading on NT25/26 north of Coffs could easily be placed on a
>>>bus (and a small one at that!)

Don't know how they would know ..... they don't leave the buffet all day and
as soon as the train leaves Coffs they are locked up doin stocktake and
money and generally cleaning up till Grafton.... All they want to do is stay
in a nicer town is all... tell ya anything

>>>All it takes is a little bit of lateral thinking.
>>
>>
>>And an understanding!
>
>
>I do understand - more than you probably realise. I have a lot of sympathy
>for Countrylink management and staff who are trying to do an impossible
task
>with inadequate assets.

Good to see someone has

However, I have had discussions (face to face) with
>Kim Finnimore (when he was GM), Tim Poulter and Roger Mica, and they wish
to
>be seen as a credible transport operator. They cannot be taken seriously in
>this given the current unreliability of services,

I gotta say they are the people directly responsible for the unreliability
and lack of funds...  more so the first 2...

 the lack of courtesy of
>some of the staff,

again theyre responsibility...... they hired em

the state of the rolling stock, etc.

 not a lot wrong a few million out of homebush bay or City Rails ever
expanding budget wouldn't fix

The type of
>customers they need to attract, in order to be a credible trasnport
>operator, won't stand for it.

And who would they be



Cheers
Jack