Re: Article in Trains magazine

[G.Lambert@unsw.edu.au (Geoff Lambert)]

Trainspotters berate "cement mix express"

Date: 27/05/98

By ROBERT WAINWRIGHT

Riding Countrylink's XPT overnight train from Sydney to Brisbane has
been lambasted as like "rough riding in a cement
mixer".

The Opposition's spokesman on Transport, Mr Michael Photios, gleefully
told Parliament yesterday that the review by the
US publication Trains, which has an audited circulation of 130,000 and
describes itself as the "leading magazine of
railroading", labelled the XPT a nightmare.

"The trip was so bad that the train was compared to a cement mixer,
fumes continually belched from the motor into the
carriages and even the food was not worth eating," Mr Photios said.

He released a copy of Mr Karl Zimmerman's February article, which
commented: "Our compartment was as rough riding as
a cement mixer and heavily scented with fumes from the power car just
ahead.

"Food and beverage offerings, fetched from the buffet, were dismal.
Arrival at Brisbane was an unhandy 6 am but we were
happy to get off."

The Minister for Transport, Mr Scully, rejected the criticism but
announced that the Government would commit $130 million
over the next four years for a mechanical overhaul of the Countrylink
XPT fleet.