Re: new XPT cars order

["Dave Proctor" <daproc@sd5.mailbank.com>]

Rod Gayford wrote in message <3851E5D2.A00E6402@smartchat.net.au>...
>The latest NSW Railway Digest mentions that Country Link intends to
>order 3 XPT passsenger coaches to be used on the Broken Hill service.
>These coaches will be loco hauled. ABB is to build them (or whatever
>they call themselves). What a waste on money. Why dont they grab back
>the old Aurora cars that are being used for track inspections and fit
>them out with seats and leave one or two sleepers. I notice one car has
>been turned into an observation car of sorts with windows cut into the
>end and the side windows enlarged. Leave it like that and it would be a
>great tourist drawcard.  There are some spare cars sitting around up
>Townsville which probably be bought for a song.

The advantage to building a few more XPT cars is that they would be
interchangeable with the rest of the fleet. Presuming the cars will come to
Sydney once a week for servicing, they could just be part of the general XPT
pool, and they grab any available cars to work the BHQ service. The PHA vans
were built to operate with the XPT cars, after all.

Dave