Re: RIP ASW?

["Exnarc" <gwrly@netspace.net.au>]

David Langley <del@ancc.com.au> wrote in message
379B13F6.79635DDA@ancc.com.au">news:379B13F6.79635DDA@ancc.com.au...
> David Guymer wrote:
>
> > The officail reason for going via Cressy was the gradients of the lines.
> > It was
> > thought to be quicker and cheaper to run via Cressy than up the
> > Ingilston bank.
>
> That's the official reason but it's the other reasons we are interested
in. The
> political ones, the backroom ones, the ones designed to be most unhelpful
to everyone
> else.
>
> The line via Cressy might have little in the way of grades but it has a
lot in the way
> of curves and does not serve Geelong as was the big boast. It goes nearby
but doesnot
> serve it - yet. With the money spent on the new railway between Newport
and Geelong,
> you could have put in a couple of minor deviations on the Ballarat line
and saved a
> lot of time in running. BTW Ballarat has got the CTC but the other lines
got that
> stupid SAWs.
>
> David Langley.
>

I can't see the arguement that the Cressy line has a lot of curves?

Sure there are curves, but no more (probably less) than the Ballan route,
the extra distance is the facture, if you can't improve train speeds
(because of track conditions) you will never compete on time based freight.
The other factor is fuel consumption, the extra distance is balanced out by
the number of notch 8 hours required to climb grades such as Ingleston. As
for the Ballan Line having CTC, this is correct but what about the 50 odd
miles from Ballarat to Ararat that would need to be given CTC.

Another factor is, if you went via Ballan the political ramifications would
be enormous, you would have to either build (or convert) a seperate fleet of
Passenger cars to service this corridor, or abandon passenger services
altogether in favour of buses. (It would be a brave Govt that did that on
this important corridor). Also the Ballarat yard and its heritage
classification would be a major headache, one of the reasons for choosing
the Cressy route was the future possibility of double stacking the route, in
1994 NRC put it at about $50 million that figure has probably doubled by
now. (that would I presume include getting around Bunbury Street Tunnel as
well as  the Adelaide Hills 7 tunnels.

Cressy is a pain but money on track would fix that. Its got more potental in
the long run than the other routes.

Bob.