Re: Victoria Finally Adopts Modern Safeworking

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

In article <37168580.4BDABDC9@dehaa.sa.gov.au> Neil Waller <nwaller@dehaa.sa.gov.au> writes:
>From: Neil Waller <nwaller@dehaa.sa.gov.au>
>Subject: Re: Victoria Finally Adopts Modern Safeworking
>Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 10:04:08 +0930

>Maurie Daly wrote:
>> 

>> Rail can never compete with road in delivery time because rail cannot deliver
>> door to door .

>But Maurie is the rail company a company that operates trains, as AN thought
>it was, or a company that provides the carriage of freight (or passengers or
>what-ever)?

>There is a significant difference.

>-- 
>Neil Waller     (nwaller@denr.sa.gov.au)
>Department of Environment Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs
>Telephone:      Oz: (08) 8204 9218; International: (618) 8204 9218
>Mail:           GPO Box 1047, ADELAIDE 5001     Australia

>Unless explicitly attributed, the opinions expressed are personal
>and not those of DEHAA or the South Australian Government.


There certainly is , and in my mind there should be no such thing as a rail 
company,unless it is a transport company that specialises in transporting 
rails.
Railways are transport companies , whose function is to transport goods / 
passengers from A to B.
The transport should be done in the most cost efficient manner which should 
include using trucks / busses where trains are less effective or economic.
Sadly for the last 100 years as you have so rightly pointed out Railways saw 
themselves as operators of trains and not transport companies.
Providing a door to door service irrespective of how you do it , is far more 
efficient from the customers perspective than providing a terminal to 
terminal service.
However , for goods which are transported in part by rail ,then there is the 
cost of the double handling,which must be offset by a much lower 
rate over the rail portion ,so rail must be extremely low cost 
,much more so than trucks to be a viable competitor.
B doubles achieve 3.5 c/ntk which is only 1 c above NRCs best rate of 2.5 
c/ntk.
Even at 2.5c/ntk NRC are still to make any profit.


In relation to the safeworking issue,safeworking systems are a cost which in
themselves make no revenue and so the only reason for having them  is to 
allow revenue to be generated where otherwise none would be .
Obviously to run trains you need some sort of safeworking,but to simply 
discard old systems of safeworking gecause they are that, ie old , without in 
anyway justifying why a more modern / more expensive safeworking system is 
going to allow you to generate more revenue is simply dreaming.

There are numerous sections of the current SG interstate network which are 
running on totally outdated old safeworking systems , the most notable being 
Parkes to Broken Hill which is still mostly train staff & ticket.with a bit of 
ES thrown in.
The operators who run over this line will earn the same revenue 
per train with this system that they would with any other,as its the ntk/s 
that earn you the money.

For a company like FV which will in its early days at least be likely to be 
running not many trains , simple outdated safeworking systems are all that is 
really needed.

MD