Re: Melbourne to Darwin

[mauried@commslab.gov.au (Maurie Daly)]

In article <3590ba4e.0@newshost.pcug.org.au> Peter Parker <parkerp@pcug.org.au> writes:
>From: Peter Parker <parkerp@pcug.org.au>
>Subject: Re: Melbourne to Darwin
>Date: 24 Jun 98 08:35:26 GMT

>There are plenty of small towns on existing railway lines that are losing 
>population and thus commercial and government services.  

Lets get the above statement correct.
There are plenty of small towns on existing "Government run railway lines" 
that are losing population and thus commercial & government services.
This is simply because Governments havnt a clue how to run railways profitably.
Most of the small towns that no longer have a rail service even though the 
line passes thru the town , is because the Govt run rail operator isnt 
interested in providing the service the town wants,and in most cases would 
prefer to provide no service at all.


>What makes proponents of the high-speed inland rail link suppose that 
>building a new line would magically revitalise all the small towns that 
>it passes through?  If anything, the presence of passenger services on 
>these lines would strengthen the larger towns at the expense of the 
>smaller towns. 

Because they will be able to provide a service that the end users actually 
want  , not the service that the Govt owned railway thinks they need.
Just try and get a Govt owned railway to transport your goods from A to B , 
when A and B arnt in the same state, and see how much interest you get, bloody 
none.

I personally am not in favor of building another line from melb to darwin , as 
it seems a total gross duplication of what we have already , but I can 
understand the motives of those who want to build it , as it gets around all 
the historical problems of the Govt owned and run systems .

ie its the wrong fix for the wrong problem.

cheers
MD