Re: Southern Arurora

[pcc@ocean.com.au (Les Brown)]

"David Proctor" <daproc@spam_this.umpires.com> wrote in aus.rail:

>Better still, why can't a private operator reinstitute the train. As a
>fromer travel agent, I know that a lot of my corporate clients did not want
>to get the first flight of the morning to get into SYD/MEL for early
>meetings (having to be up at 0300 or thereabouts to make the first flight -
>meant they were not in the best condition for those meetings) but were
>worried about the costs of flying down the night before and staying in a
>hotel.
>
It would never substitute. 

Some business people I know do travel up on the night before to
Sydney. The reasons are varied; it could be for a decent nights sleep
- given the state of the SG track in Victoria, that would be
impossible. I travelled on the SA several times, and I couldn't sleep
on the train; it could be to gain extra frequent-flyer points (why the
railways never did this, I don't know); or it could be that an ontime
arrival was only likely 80-85% of the time.

>I truely believe that a sleeping berth train, charging the same as the
>economy airfare (currently approx. $260 one way) and providing meals and
>drinks, would capture a large part of the business market, particularly if
>allied with air travel (e.g. finish meeting at 2pm instead of 6pm - fly back
>instead)
>
The money side is not the problem for most business people, if it were
then they would travel up stand-by the night before. Most business
people would prefer to be where they need to be; wide awake, shaved,
showered, breakfasted and, most importantly, on-time. If this costs a
little extra ($200-$300 is "a little"), then so be it; it's worth it
and it can easily be buried in the budget for that sort of thing. But
being late for a very important client cannot be compensated for.

>A timetable of 1900 - 0700 in each direction would ork rather well, and
>would have a bit of inbuilt reliability at each end (meetings would not
>start B4 0830 - allowing for late arrivals) - and the business people would
>arrive relaxed (after a night in bed, a shower, a fll breakfast included in
>the fare).

If only they could arrive that way! Often the case was that they
couldn't sleep, no breakfast and the shower didn't work. Worse still,
the train was held up at Albury or Junee or Goulburn or even worse,
Liverpool, awaiting some slow freight or some suburban spark stopping
all stations, to get off the rails.

The service was terrible long before the end. I confess that I
preferred air-travel, even the night before, to getting into Sydney.
And if it meant going around in circles above Mascot for an hour or
so, it was still better than the rail experience which was not
pleasant.

It is comforting to note that when Speedrail get their VFT up and
running, all on train services will be run by Qantas. This means the
staff will be courteous, helpful, neat and tidy and generally
professional in their dealings with the general public. Could you say
the same about CountryLink staff? Some you could, but generally?

Les Brown