GEs for Victoria?

[Grahame John Ferguson <grahamef@users.mcmedia.com.au>]

It was interesting read in the Financial Review a week ago that the Howard
Smith Group(Goninan's parent company) stated that Goninans are going into
the refurbishment and maintenance field and was closing down the Braodmeadow
NSW plant. The article speculated that one of the companies that would be in
a position to buy Goninans was EDI!

Would it be much easier in Australia if we had just locomotive manufacturer,
and work on larger economies of scale than having smaller companies cutting
each others throat??
A single larger company would have a real chance at long term overseas exports.

This would also allow for a longer production run cutting down unit costs.
Competition in the free market is one thing, but to have over competition in
a small market with factories cut to the bone, only results in the death of
all Local Manufacturers(Vale Goninan).  Which is also the case in point as
regards competition on the railways, with many medium to small rail
operators suffocating each other out of existence, when the real enemy is
the subsidised trucking industry.

If you say one local manufacturer would be a monopoly, not so, you buy
cheaper from GE or GM/EMD directly.

In closing GEs for Victoria would just mean that some thing that was
standard all around the state is no longer, this is not an economically wise
decision, just to appease a consortium colleague.  It appears that
consolidation rather than a multiplicity of rail owners and manufacturers is
the way to go in Australian Railways.