Re: Twilight of the Passenger As?

["David Bennetts" <davibenn@pcug.org.au>]

Yuri J Sos/Melbourne AUS wrote in message
<3769336e.111587@news.enternet.com.au>...
Country train travellers (Victoria, Australia) will get $80 million
worth of new trains after the state's railways are privatised.

The winning bidder for V/Line Passenger (Victoria, Australia) will
have to buy 20 new sprinters to replace four 45 year old A class
diesel locomotives in the next four years, according to a page five
article in the "Herald Sun" (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
yesterday, 16 June 1999.

Services along V/Line' six country lines are likely to be more
frequent and more comfortable.

Sorry to be a sceptic, but isn't this the very sort of hype the Brits were
fed before British Rail was carved up?
They ended up with a less reliable service, overcrowding, and Railtrack, the
corporation maintining the track infrastructure makes huge profits whilst
maintenance standards slip, eg the recent debacle through the Bristol Tunnel
where trains had to slow to 20 mph, throwing timetables and connections into
chaos.  Now services on some branch lines have been reduced and
''bustitution" is threatened.

Regards

David Bennetts
Canberra