Re: Booked out Melb XPTs

[mauried@commslab.gov.au (Maurie Daly)]

In article <378BC42B.20C0679A@melbpc.org.au> Jennifer Richmond <richmond@melbpc.org.au> writes:
>From: Jennifer Richmond <richmond@melbpc.org.au>
>Subject: Re: Booked out Melb XPTs
>Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 08:56:43 +1000



>Maurie Daly wrote lots of financial stuff (which is probably quite correct),
>then:

>> If the train has a lot of concession fares then we need 95% capacity.
>>
>> As you can see its marginal but possible.
>> The single biggest cost is Track Access.
>>
>> Any comments on these figures welcome or if anyone has more up to date
>> figures.

>Well, as the original posting was on how the XPTs are booked out, I think that
>95% is
>easily achievable. But then you take into account that one car is a sleeper
>(much
>higher rates) usually about 80% to 90% full and 1 car (or is it 1.5 cars) are
>first
>class (slightly higher rates) usually 95% to 100% full.
>If the amount of people I have to turn away at Reservoir Station from booking on
>the
>XPT is any indication of the rest of Melbourne/Sydney (and places in the
>middle), then
>there is a real need for bigger trains/more trains from Melbourne to Sydney.
>I tried to take a booking yesterday on the TRAINS computer for a ticket to
>Sydney. It
>was booked out for 3 days in advance!

>Sam Eades
>eadess@yahoo.com



One of the problems with the XPT is the definition of what does booked-out 
mean.
I used to travel quite often from Melb to Yass and tried to go via XPT in each 
case and found exactly as you have found that the train is booked out.
In reality however it isnt.
On every case when I have travelled after struggling to get onto the train and 
its been quite a few times, the person sitting next to me has travelled as far 
as Benalla or Albury,the seat next to me has then been vacant all the way to 
where I get off , ie Yass Jnct.
This happens far more so on the night train where its unusual for people to 
get on the train after Albury.
The day train is a bit better in that you do get people alighting and getting 
on over the whole trip.
In my view Countrylink would do a lot better at least with the night XPT by 
ruuning it along the lines of the old Southern Aurora , ie make the train 
available for thru commuting passengers on a priority basis.
There is no earthly reason why the XPT should cater for intrastate travel in 
Victoria when VLP do an excellent job in catering for this market.

The XPT service between Melb & Sydney is trying to cater for all needs when it 
cant.
We either have an Xpress Passenger Service as the train is called and run it 
non stop from Melb to Sydney,or we run a stopping all stations train and lose 
heaps of dough on it ,(which is what happens).
A private operator (maybe GSR) could no doubt run a Sydney - Melb train to 
cater for Sydney - Melbourne passengers at a small profit , but would they be 
allowed to ??

MD