Re: Ghan times suffering in the Alice lately.?

["WhaleOilBeefHooked" <daproc@sd5.mailbank.com>]

< Tell > wrote in message <379b7262.8261048@news.ozemail.com.au>...
>I posted some time ago in this group that since the
>GSR/NRC Ghan's, you could almost set you watch by the
>advertised arrival times up here.
>
>But since the Melbourne and Sydney Ghans, the arrival
>times in the Alice have degraded.  OK, we are pretty
>laid back up here, this ain't suburbia, who cares if
>things are a bit late, no big deal.
>
>The Ghan arrived today 9/7/99 at 1255 hours, must be
>frustrating for GSR, who have the task of cleaning,
>restocking, unloading and loading motorail on a train
>the size of the Ghan and then expect time recovery on
>the way back.  No doubt NRC and their drivers will do
>their bit with help from the Port Augusta Train
>Controllers, but maybe these extended Ghan services
>need a more generous timetable.

Where can they add time? Sydney has a turnaround of less than 4 hours (and
the crew have just worked a 24 hour sector, with another 24 hour sector in
front of them), whilst Melbourne has a turnaround of less than 90 minutes
(not sure of exact times, but I am sure someone will tell us).

DaveP