Re: End of the Sand Train?

[Craig Haber <albatross@harnessnet.com.au>]

Yuri Sos/Melbourne wrote:
> Hypothetically, of course, how could a prospective rail operator
> competitively tender for say, Leongatha to Melbourne.  Would VicTrack
> make the track 100km/h rated in such an event?  VicRoads upgraded the
> South Gippsland Highway when buses took over, so surely equal
> opportunity should apply, shouldn't it? maybe? surely???

Now they (rail operators) have virtually no chance, because they'd have
to pay for the track to be upgraded.  On the other hand, over the past
10 years (have witnessed this first hand), the South Gippsland Highway
has gone from single-carriageway to dual-carriageway all the way from
the end of the South East Arterial (ex-Mulgrave Fwy, north of
Cranbourne), all the way to the Bass Hwy junction (about half-way
between Lang Lang and Nyora).

> How many B-doubles is that?  How much will need to be spent on
> upgrading the roads that start to fall apart when these things have
> been running a year or so?  You can't blame AGL for looking for the
> most efficient (for them) transport solution, but IMHO the loss of
> railhead to railhead bulk/unit train operation to trucks is nothing
> short of obscene.

It's very disheartening to see this sort of thing, with the Sand train
and the Fyansford-Arden St cement.  These are bulk commodities going
from railhead to railhead - if we can't transport them competitively,
then what hope is there?  And the contrast is also disturbing - there
have been real success stories for V/Line freight (in particular, the
resurgance of the Goulburn Valley), but elsewhere it's just falling
over.

It's very dishearting for observers to see what's going on in Victoria,
must be even worse for the employees.  If I were the South Gippsland
Railway, I'd be doing some fast talking to Victrack to try and lease
Cranbourne-Nyora, at least that way there's some chance of it remaining
trafficable with some basic maintenance.  Now that there's no revenue
for Victrack, they're not going to spend money on it and it'll quickly
become un-trafficable.  Otherwise SGR could quickly find themselves
isolated at Nyora.

Cheers,
Craig.
-- 
Craig Haber
albatross@harnessnet.com.au
Manufacturing Systems Engineer (almost) 
Web Page Designer, Harness Racing, Railways, and Essendon Football Club
fanatic
http://www.harnessnet.com.au/