Freight Victoria & NSW Wheat

[David & Julie Donald <dsjmd@hermes.net.au>]

This whole issue, and notably the timetable that has been provided, does raise a
number of issues, as below:

(a) from my recollection, SM7 was the service between Sydney and Melbourne
previously operated by Austrac, in conjunction by the then V/Line Freight.  Who
is operating this service now, and what is it carrying ??  As well, I was under
the impression that Austrac was the entity that was trialling, and presumably
using, the EL's - does this then mean that Austrac, Freight Victoria, and LVR
have come to some operating agreement, or is this simply a commercial
arrangement on the part of all the parties ??

(b) if this wheat train is serving the GrainCo siding at The Rock (on the Boree
Creek line), why is it going all the way to Albury, and then returning back to
The Rock  ??  If it has something to do with turning the X (and using Albury's
turntable), I would have thought that there were sufficient triangles (and the
odd turntable) around the Metrop. (or Wollongong / Port Kembla area) to ensure
that it was facing the correct direction for departure from The Rock.  Or is it
a crewing issue ??  Or thirdly, it is cheaper, in terms of track access fees,
and the like, to run the extra 150kms (or so) round trip to Albury than to have
the train shunted off and stored at The Rock, or some other location north
thereof, or even turn the X somewhere else.

(c) If Freight Victoria, even in conjunction with LVR, is going to be operating
these services on a regular basis, even if only during the wheat season, isn't
this going to leave them a little thin on the ground  ??  With only the two X's
and the G, along with whatever LVR can provide (presently one 44 and the two
47's), to operate the Hume Siding log traffic, the Wallerawang log traffic,
assist LVR in running their Bullock Island container service two or three times
per week, as well as this grain traffic, it could be well imagined that the
number of services being operated to each location might suddenly become a
little far and few between.
Under the assumption that the the log traffic will be some sort of co-ordinated
affair, that would essentially mean that the G and one X will be almost
consistently engaged in that traffic.
Assuming that the container service only works during the week, it might be
possible to deploy the other X, along with the LVR engines, to this service, and
then run the grain traffic at weekends.

Anyone with comments on what is the situation.

--

Regards

David Donald
Springwood, NSW

dsjmd@hermes.net.au