Re: Speedrail

[Eddie Oliver <eoliver@efs.mq.edu.au>]

Maurie Daly wrote:

> One is that even if a VFT was built between Sydney - Canberra and eventually
> to Melb it would have little or  no bearing at all on the passenger
> projections,ie we are being asked to beleive that a VFT isnt going to in any
> way reduce the number of airline movements at Mascot. (This is either total
> crap or the feds know that a VFT isnt going to get up or more likely simply
> want to build this airport no matter what.)

The strongest evidence of this is the total lack of any assessment
anywhere - whether in this latest document or anywhere else - of the
number of air movements which could be eliminated at Mascot by one or
more VFT operations, and of the cost-efficiency of investing money in
VFTs vis-a-vis Badgerys Creek.

Any responsible analysis of this whole issue would have comparisons
calculated on financial grounds - e.g. how many VFTs can be built for
the same money as Badgerys Creek, and how many air movements would they
eliminate (firstly if pure market forces were operative, and secondly if
there were a compulsory elimination of air journeys which could equally
be served by a VFT). 

There would then also be environmental factors added in, since even the
most avid airport admirers seem to admit that VFTs are environmentally
more friendly in a city area than aircraft movements can be.

However I suspect that even without environmental components, a VFT
network would be seen to be financially and transportationally more
effective than a new airport, and in particular that it could eliminate
the need for a second Sydney airport long into the future.

Eddie Oliver