Re: Timings for Adelaide to Melbourne (was GSR's new Brochure)

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

The other obvious way to save a bit of time is to simply cut out the 
intermediate stops, ie abandon stopping at 
Ararat,Stawell,Horsham,Nhill,Wolseley,Bordertown,Tailem bend & Murray Bridge.
This would save at least 30 - 40 mins based on how long the train actually 
stops there.
There will be no doubt some complaint from these towns , but lets face it , 
GSR is a commercial business trying to run at a profit, not acting as a public 
service.
(Does GSR have to stop at these locations anyway.)
Its pretty obvious that neither of the two State Govts have any interest in 
providing any sort of rail services to these towns.
The submission from the CEO of GSR to the Feds committee indicated that the 
number of passengers they get from these towns you could count on one 
hand.Indeed on the numerous times Ive travelled on this train , the only use 
of any of these stops was for the smokers break, no real passengers got on or 
off.
Indeed if the aim of the exercise is to reduce the running time to 10.5 
hours,is there any need to even stop at Dimboola, can 10.5 hours be 
accomodated in a single shift?  (certainly not the sort of thing Id be 
recommending though.)

cheers
MD