Re: Hume (Canberra) freight terminal

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

In article <7oh3vk$5r5$1@the-fly.zip.com.au> "Andrew Honan" <ahonan@zipworld.com.au> writes:
>From: "Andrew Honan" <ahonan@zipworld.com.au>
>Subject: Re: Hume (Canberra) freight terminal
>Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 20:44:27 +1000


>>
>> The bottom line is that for whatever reasons RAC is charging way too much
>> for Track Access in NSW,and the only fix is to abolish RAC.
>>
>> MD
>>
>Thems fighting words Maurie.

>Politically i don't know how the NSW government would sell the idea.
>Some other comments in the transcripts from the PC were suggesting that we
>don't need another major change or another bureaucracy in track ownership
>but just need to tinker with the track access charges. 'We need to give the
>present arrangements time to work'. This seemed a bit defensive to me.
>Maybe they could split up the RAC into Metro and freight and give freight to
>the feds (as part of ARTC) and put metro back with NSW Department of
>Transport (or SRA)??
>Anyway we shall see.

>Anderew Honan


Well , I must admit that I dont see any progress coming from the PC,their 
track record on recommendations that the Govt has actually followed is pretty 
slim.
Tinkering with the track access charges wont fix anything.
One of the consistant complaints made to both the Neville & Smorgon inquiries
into rail reform was the the multiplicity of track access regimes and 
incompatible  regulatory requrements was one of the most significant factors
impeding new players into entering the rail industry and even the existing 
players complained about the time it took to enter into access agreements 
with RAC topping the list as the worst organization to deal with.
Unless somehow the concept of a one stop shop can be created,and Im not 
optimistic,then there is no point whatsoever the Feds injecting massive sums
of money into fixing up the rail  infrastructure,after all whats the good of 
having the worlds best track if you cant afford to run your trains on it.
My bet is that the PC will recommend that very little needs to be done at this 
time and that market forces or similar crap words will fix the rail system.
The Feds will say , bewdy , the PC has recommended that we dont have to do 
anything to fix rail,so we will follow the recommendation.

The other option is the the PC will have the guts to basically say that the 
Rail system is totally stuffed and needs to be fixed both from an 
infrustructure and regulation / access perspective.
The Feds will say , OK we are prepared to fix up the infrastructure if the 
States agree on a uniform access / regulation environment.
The States will as always ,refuse to cooperate so nothing will still happen.

RIP Rail in Australia.

MD