Re: Wonderful, Customer-Responsive GSR

["Barry" <one@microsoft.com>]

Adrian Linklater wrote in message <34CAE09D.DE6B584D@yahoo.com>...
>Barry wrote:
>
>> Overnight trains for point to point travel are dead as a money making
>> venture in Australia. Not only that, they do not even perform a public
>> service as other modes of transport fill the gaps quite adequately and
they
>> just take up track space that could be used by real (that is freight)
>> trains.
>>
>> Barry Campbell
>
>Firstly, my apologies for the lateness of posting this reply, but I have
been
>away on holidays and for work - but I CANNOT let this reply go without
>commenting on it.
>
>Overnight trains CAN work in Australia - and not just for low value
backpackers
>either.
>
>I used to work in the travel industry, and had a large corporate client
base,
>often travelling between Sydney and Melbourne. These people did not care
what
>they paid (within reason) for travel costs, as long as it was reliable.
They
>often had early meetings in Melbourne, which necessitated flying down the
night
>before and paying for exorbitant hotel costs. The alternative was catching
the
>first flight of the morning (6.15am) to allow for Sydney Airport's woeful
>reliability (and even then, they did not get there in time on occasions).
In
>order to get this flight, they had to be at the airport no later then
5.45am,
>which meant timing arrival by about 5.30am, again to allow for delays. This
>often meant leaving homeat around 4.30am, which meant waking up at around
>3.30am-4am. So by the time the 9am meeting had commenced, our businessman
had
>been awake for almost 6 hours - great stuff!
>
>I have advocated for a long time (and the corporate clients agree with me)
that
>an overnight sleeping train (1900 departure - 0700 arrival) with the same
fares
>as a business class airfare (approx. $300) with dinner and breakfast
included
>would be very attractive to the corporate clients. They could get a full
nights
>sleep, shower in the morning, relax in a lounge car, do some work in their
>sleeping berth if desired. They could basically arrived refreshed.
>
>The 'Southern Aurora' was not utilised in its later years, I hear you say!
True
>- but the times were atrocious (0900 arrival - way too late), the carriages
were
>old (nothing wrong with that - but they looked their age - plenty wrong
with
>that!) and the service was not marketed properly. A deal would need to be
tied
>up with Ansett or QANTAS so that tickets were interchangeable (if a meeting
>finished at lunch instead of at 5.30, the passenger could return home
straight
>away), but this should not be a problem. If properly marketed in
publications
>like Business Review Weekly and the Financial Review, this service could
become
>popular - but that is why it will NEVER happen!
>
>Regards
>
>David Proctor
>daproc@bigfoot.com
>
>dont use the reply function - it will not work, im not on my own computer!
>
>

I see your point David but a lot of this relies on the delays at Sydney
airport. From my perspective in Qld, a 6.45 am flight even in a slow BAe 146
is much more efficient, though not as pleasant, than an overnight train if
such a thing ran from my part of the world. For a day trip with no luggage I
get up at 5.30 which is not that early and I can be in the city in Brisbane
at 9am. This is because the delays at Brisbane are minimal. If Sydney was at
this standard rail would never compete. As the rail system has its own
punctuality problems, the airlines still win.

BC