Re: Opening of cross-country branchlines

[Joel Dickins <winwizard@NOSPAM.bigfoot.com>]

David & Julie Donald wrote:
> 
> We keep on hearing recently that there is every likelihood that a number (three
> seems to be the consistently quoted figure) of currently closed country
> branchlines, including two cross-country branchlines (and that would seem to
> only suggest Lithgow - Mudgee - Gulgong & Harden/Demondrille - Cowra - Blayney)
> are going to be re-opened.  Does anyone have any further information on this
> particular issue ??
> 
> There were suggestions that a private operator, thought to be Austrac, but
> possibly someone like Silverton, was looking at operating services from Mudgee
> to Lithgow (and possibly the Metrop.), and that enough traffic could be
> generated from sources such as the local meatworks to justify the proposals,
> quite apart from a thought that they had the potential to secure contracts
> presently held by FreightCorp (such as the Kandos cement traffic, and possibly
> the Charbon or Baal Bone coal traffic).  Any further information known on these
> issues, since it all seems to have gone a little quiet, even though it is
> thought that a number of track inspections have been undertaken to determine the
> condition of the track.
> 
> Regards
> David Donald.

David,

Coming from Mudgee, I can tell you that there is a local push to have
the line reopened to Lithgow, probably running some light railmotor
passenger type service to replace the current countrylink bus (operated
by 3F Coaches), and there would be some amount of freight coming from
Mudgee Meatworks, Ulan Coal (My step-father works there - They currently
only run through Sandy Hollow to Newcastle port, they would like to have
Wollongong available to them), as well as some other frieght that could
be taken off the road, as well as help out Charbon/Kandos cement.

I can tell you that the line from Gulgong to Mudgee is reasonable,
although some of the bridges need attention. The track within Mudgee is
very bad, all the sleepers will need to be replaced as they have rotted,
and possibly 20% of the rails will need replacing. The good news is that
the station in Mudgee has been refurbished and looks rather good at the
moment. A LEAP Team (local unemloyed group) painted it and the goods
shed down the line about 2 years ago. From Mudgee through Lue the track
rages from great to reasonable to wouldn't even think of running a train
over it. There is a long bridge just on the Lue side of Mudgee, and it
is going to need replacing. There is a bridge in Lue that is going to
need to be closely looked at, and the track through to Rylestone is very
questionable!
I don't have any idea of track between Rylestone to Kandos, But I think
it is pretty good considering. The track from Kandos to Charbon is 100%.

Hope this info intrests you.

Just as an aside, I am curently living in Albury, and am wondering what
impact on the local rail is regarding the $30-odd million Wodonga
Bypass/removal of track from Wodonga, and the proposed Albury internal
highway bypass that will at the last time I checked, run next to the
railway line in Albury. I would be extremely interested to hear from
some drivers that use this track, esp countrylink drivers. If you got an
opinion, email me, remove the spam block.

Thanks in advance,

Joel.