Re: Rail Black Spots

[hwilson@tellus.roseworthy.adelaide.edu.au (Hugh Wilson)]

Derek Woodlands (kingpin1@ozemail.com.au) wrote:
: On Tue, 14 Jul 1998 22:23:37 +1000, "Reuben Farrelly" 
: <reubie@bigpond.com.AAA> took time out from wrapping gaffer tape around 
: gerbils and wrote:   
: > 30% (270km) of the Adelaide-Melbourne rail line is restricted to 80kph or
: > less because of track condition.  For around $130 million, the rail line
: > could be brought up to world's best practice, including double stacked
: > container capacity, reducing transit times by three hours and saving at
: > least 900,000 litres of fuel per annum.  By contrast, the Federal 
: > Government is spending $138 million on road improvements in the 
: > Adelaide hills which will reduce road travel time by just 10 
: > minute"s. 
: > <end quote>
: > 
: > Gotta love that 10 mins I'd save if I went to Adelaide by car!
: > 
: The road works in the Adelaide Hills also get rid of some nasty curves 
: on which many accidents and some fatalities have occurred over the years.

The irony is that most people I know actually enjoy the challenge of 
driving through the nasty curves on the bit of Mt. Barker road they are 
spending 138 mil on bypassing.  Similarly, it was reported that many 
pilots regretted the building of the new Hong Kong airport, as the 
approach to the old airport was dangerous, but challenging and fun to 
do. 

Incidentally, NR's website seems a bit confused on the amount of 
money needed to bring the Melb-Adelaide line to worlds best practice.  
On one page it quoted 130 million, and on another 500 mil.

Hugh Wilson