Re: Ararat BG connections

[steam4me@enternet.com.au (Yuri J Sos/Melbourne AUS)]

On Fri, 5 Mar 1999 02:58:44 GMT, mauried@commslab.gov.au (Maurie Daly)
wrote, and I selectively quote:

>Your comments re ASW are spot on , an amazing amount of money wasted on a 
>safeworking system that went no-where,and never was likely to go anywhere.

So we may speculate as to ASW's future.  Will the ARTC want to keep it
after 1 July 99 when train control for the western line reverts to
Adelaide?  Keeping ASW doesn't sit easily with the stated desire to
reduce the different safeworking systems across Australia.

Then there's FV.  ASW is used essentially only Geelong - Maryborough -
Yelta:  will they want to keep these expensive contraptions in their
locos long term?  Listening to ARTC at Port Augusta a couple of months
ago, they seemed to have no problems with plain ordinary TOs in that
area.

Without ARTC and FV's commitment, I think you'd have to say ASW is
dead.  But no-one in the PTC/Transport bureaucracy will ever admit it
(just like the Metcard fiasco - spend $300 million to save $16 million
dollars in wages).

A client of mine dropped into FV's Marinus van Onselen to ask if there
were any employment opportunities with the new operator: nope, we
haven't even started downsizing yet was the reply, though a comment
was made about the difference between the back office and the road
staff.

As you calculated a few days ago, FV is going have to work hard to
break even:  all unnecessary expenditure  will be curtailed - question
is how unnecessary and how expensive is ASW?

Regards

Yuri
-- 
==================================
Yuri J Sos
Melbourne VIC AUS

Reply to: steam4me@enternet.com.au

Personal Web site at http://people.enternet.com.au/~steam4me
Steam Media Productions: http://people.connect.net.au/~steam
==================================