Re: Road Transport set for a boost in pay loads.

["Mr Peter Wait" <PeterWait@bigpond.com>]

if road transport was made to pay it's way there wouldn't be any trucks oz
roads.

Bill Evans wrote in message <354a886d.320487734@news.collective.com.au>...
>On Fri, 01 May 1998 03:04:28 GMT, telljb@ozemail.com.au (Tell) wrote:
>
>+Just picked this up;  the Northern Territory is set to
>+go ahead with new increased axle load limits for heavy
>+road transport using air bag suspension instead of
>+conventional leaf springs.
>+
>+The NT Transport Minister Barry Coulter said that air
>+bags will allow an extra 2.5 tonnes per tri-axle and it
>+would only be a matter of time before it would be used
>+under the uniform road transport regulations right
>+across Australia.
>
>This is because air-bag suspension gives greater axle control and
>weight distribution than conventional suspension setups. It must be
>remembered that the NT still depends almost exclusively upon road for
>it's transport services. This is why they allow triple road trains on
>a very heavily trafficked major highway. This may change once the
>Alice-Darwin link is commissioned, provided it is well run.
>+
>+Here we are debating our fragmented national rail
>+system, whether we should have club or dining cars on
>+pass trains that nobody uses, running Brisbane and
>+Sydney trains via Melbourne on pathetic and limited
>+track through to Adelaide, along with a half baked
>+private and public freight system that has been a
>+Federal and State political tool for far too long.
>+
>+Truckies 3  Rail 0
>+
>
>The following is an excerpt from a document I wrote about 18 months
>ago, and which was sent to every major political party. None even
>bothered to respond with an acknowledgement, other than the WA
>Minister for transport who sent me a polite thank you. It was written
>as part of a platform for dealing with the oil shortages which are
>predicted to begin to hit around 2010, and as an aside also dealt with
>water supplies and forrest protection.
>
>I would welcome any comments from this NG.
>1. TRANSPORT:
>The main reason so much emphasis has been placed upon road transport
>in recent times is due to the erroneous perception that rail is
>inefficient and expensive. This impression has been given as a result
>of one major cost difference between the two forms of transport. Rail
>transport has always had to pay the full cost of building and
>maintaining it's permanent way and traffic control systems, whilst
>road transport uses public roads funded by the taxpayer.
>
>To obtain a realistic comparison between road and rail true costs, the
>first step must be to remove from the rail systems' cost structure all
>the above mentioned expenditures and apply all taxes and fees
>applicable to road transport, including a license fee on all
>locomotive and rolling stock calculated upon a power basis as with
>prime movers. This will show that rail is by far and away the cheapest
>form of transport for long distance or bulk transportation of produce.
>
>Next, to ensure that costs do not escalate once oil prices begin to
>rise, and simultaneously eliminate greenhouse emissions by rail
>transport, the entire rail network must be electrified. Ideally, we
>should convert existing diesel electric locomotives for operation from
>mains power, whilst retaining their diesel engines for use in the
>event of a power outage, especially those operating in remote areas.
>
>In order to reduce complaints and possible law suits from existing
>transport companies, it would be advisable to escalate the
>privatization of the rail systems to the point where the railways only
>own the locomotives and operate the trains under contract with private
>transport companies who would own and be responsible for all other
>rolling stock. A separate authority should be set up to own and be
>responsible for the construction and maintenance of the permanent way.
>This authority would consult with railways and transport companies to
>ascertain the priority and need to direct funds to the most
>appropriate areas.
>
>Finally, a considerable sum over and above the normal construction and
>maintenance budgets should be allocated for the upgrading to standard
>gauge of all non standard networks and for the expansion of the
>network until every town with a population in excess of 3000 persons
>has rail access and every long distance transport route has rail as an
>alternative to road. I would recommend that the completion of the
>Alice Springs to Darwin rail link should be a high priority and that a
>Perth to Darwin, via the Pilbara and Kimberleys  and a Townsville to
>Tennant Creek  link would also be worthy of consideration. It should
>be realized that with the substantial reductions in rail charges which
>would result from changes outlined above, there would be an almost
>immediate massive reduction in the volume of truck traffic on most of
>our main roads which would very greatly reduce the amount of money
>which would need to be spent on road construction and maintenance.
>These funds would make a significant contribution to those needed for
>the rail system.
>
>There would obviously be considerable resistance to this policy from
>the smaller road transport operators and sub contractors, however the
>simultaneous implementation of the other parts of this document would
>generate a considerable amount of work for these people in the short
>and medium term as materials etc would need to be transported into
>areas not serviced by existing rail networks.
>
>
>Bill Evans
>
>remove underpants to email