Re: Who said there's no variety these days?

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

>>
>Craig,

>If only that were true!!!

>That maybe the majority attitude of the crews, but the various managements
>see it a little differently.

>They are in the business of making money and to achieve this they are trying
>to compete against each other instead of the real enemy ROAD.

>This is less apparent with the suburban passenger operators, but in the
>freight business its "Dog eat Dog".

>There is too little business for more than 1 (I'll accept 2) rail operators
>whilst the trucking industry is given an unfair advantage.

>The level playing field has the rails goal posts at the up hill end of the
>ground, and the umpire is one eyed because he every time rail kicks for goal
>he moves the posts. Another thread on Road Trains in Victoria is a prime
>example of that.

>Bob.


There must be however a lot of transport business to be had.
Digging around on the BTEs Web Site I dug up some interesting rego statistics
for articulated trucks.
New regos range from around 500 per month to upwards of 1000 per month 
depending on the time of year,ie we are seeing around 6000 to 12000 new semis 
hitting the roads every year.
This trend has been going on for the last 6 years at least.
One thing that has long puzzled me is why dont Rail operators act like 
Transport Companies ,and also own truck fleets so that they can provide door 
to door service instead of terminal to terminal service.
We still seem to be living in the age where Rail companies run trains 
first,and then try to find things for them to carry,rather than the more 
obvious solution of we are a integrated transport company that moves things 
from A to B in the most effective manner, ie by train , truck or even sea if 
necessary.

Maybe its time for NRC to change its name to the NTC ,ie National Transport 
Corporation.

MD