Re: Latest from the NSW rumour mill

["Ben Staples" <98711576@feline.hawkesbury.uws.EDU.AU>]

Maurie Daly <mauried@commslab.gov.au> wrote in message

**SNIP**

> The only  examples in Australia of where rail is actually making a profit
> are ASR and Tasrail, both vertically integrated railways , ie the operator
> also controls owns or leases the track.
> The same is true with Qrail and in the Pilbara with the Iron Ore lines,all
> vertically integrated.
> In the sale of FV all of the potential bidders indicated that they wanted
a
> vertically integrated structure , ie the tracks as well as the rolling
stock.
>
> The problem with horizontal integration , ie one mob owns the tracks and
other
> companies run trains over it ,is that the owner of the tracks has no
incentive
> at all to maintain them to any standard.

What about the UK experience. EW&S isn't going too bad, and that's with
RailTrack. The other example is the road infrastructure. There's not much
vertical intergration there. If the government runs the road and rail
infrastructure with the same guidelines, alot of your complaints and fears
may be put to rest.

Ben Staples