Re: Ararat BG connections- Lets Standardise instead!

[mauried@commslab.gov.au (Maurie Daly)]

In article <36e75604.0@nap-ns1> "Grahame Ferguson" <grahamef@users.mcmedia.com.au> writes:
>From: "Grahame Ferguson" <grahamef@users.mcmedia.com.au>
>Subject: Re: Ararat BG connections- Lets Standardise instead!
>Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 16:46:02 +1100


>>
>>Guage conversion of BG to SG costs around 100K per km. (based on wooden
>>sleepers which can be redrilled and dont need replacement.)
>>Standardization of BG tracks needs to provide an economic return if its to
>be
>>done.
>>Simply providing alternative routes which could be used if the primary
>>route is closed or blocked simply doesnt justify the expense .
>>How many times since its opening has the Melb - Adelaide SG line been
>closed
>>or blocked?
>>The existing Melb - Adelaide line is running at about half its theoretical
>>capacity currently ,and even with the most optimistic forecasts of rail
>>winning back freight from road wont get to 100% capacity in the next 20 to
>50
>>years.
>>If anything the number of trains running over this corridor will
>>actually fall as increased loads are carried.
>>It would be nice if all of Victoria was SG , but unless its funded by Govt,
>no
>>private operator will ever go around standardizing all the tracks just for
>the
>>sake of it.
>>
>>MD
>>
>    In reply my main aim of proposing standardising of these lines is not to
>provide an alternate routes, rather this is a side benefit. The main benefit
>was as stated.
>    Who will pay, well for a start you have some friend of the Prime
>Minister's proposing a grandiose scheme to Darwin, not taking into account
>of upgrading or converting existing rail lines, which would cost less than
>his wild idea.  He wants a new one!! and so the politicians run.
>    In Victoria the excess money $40million above estimates for the VLF sale
>could go towards conversion costs.
>As for the costing, I was talking to an ex PTC signals manager who said that
>costs of 100K/km=$100,000 per km ($1000/metre) was over the top.  V/Line/PTC
>costing factors in all employees involved right up to admin level with a
>10%. loading.  Ask yourself how much would you reasonably charge for moving
>1metre of track 165cm inwards? i.e. drilling a new spike hole, pulling out
>the old ones, and then moving the base plate & rail 165cm inwards,and
>respiking the rail. Could you charge $1000 for just one metre of track?  So
>therefore if that took you a whole hour to move that 1 metre of track say
>for 2 people, they would be on $500/hour.  Take away costs for use of a
>small crane and welding and driling equipment and maybe you would be left
>with a profit of $300/hour/man for 2 men.  In reality it would take a hour
>to do 200 metres of track for 2 men with machinery.
>    Believe me an organisation I know got a quote for repairs and it was in
>the $100,000 region, they separately got quotes privately and it amounted to
>$20,000.  That is 20% of the Railway cost.
>    To me the only benefit of privatisation is that smaller contractors with
>less baggage than V/Line will help bring down the costs.
>I am sure the costs for gauge conversion could be brought down to $10K/km.
>For 200km of track it would cost $2million.
>    As for the Ararat BG connection from what I hear it is a non starter.
>    If the USA could convert all of its tracks to SG overnight in the 19th
>century, why does it take a Century in Victoria to convert to SG.
>    To some the BG seems to be a sacred cow, no-one dare touch this divine
>Victorian icon.  Like when the South Australian Government in the 30s did
>not want the SG from Pt Augusta invading their railways into Adelaide and
>prevented the wholesale conversion of the Port Pirie line.
>    Yes its all back to the future here in Victoria.
>    But Maurie I do agree otherwise what you have said in previous postings,
>you seem to have a good insight into the railways.



OK , firstly 100K per km was what Vline themselves paid to get Yaapeet , 
Murtoa - Hopetoun converted , and was also the quote to convert Wolseley - Mt 
Gambier.
There unfortunately is a hell of a lot more involved than just drilling a hole 
and moving track inwards.
Rails are held on wooden sleepers with fish plates which depending of the 
weight of the rail and its speed limit / axle load rating require 2 to 4 
spikes per sleeper.
On curves the radius of the new rail is now shorter than the original so bits 
of rail have to be cut out and then the shorter bits re welded.
Where sleepers are old or damaged they have to replaced which means clearing 
the ballast , removing the sleeper, replacing with new sleepers , re 
ballasting.
Where there are signals / level crossings etc, track circuits have to be 
rewired.

Reguaging a line makes sense when the re guaging allows the line to carry 
trafiic that it couldnt originally carry, ie rail wins new freight by the 
reguaging.
You cant compare also the building of a new line where one didnt originally 
exist with the reguaging of an existing line.
Building a new line allows rail to capture a market that didnt exist before.
In the case of Alice Sp to Darwin , I tend to agree that this project will be 
uneconomic and wont pay for itself,but if the private sector is prepared to 
pay for it , then who cares, its their money to blow.
Railways these days , some would say unfortunately have to operate on a purely 
commercial basis , ie everything that is done is done for economic reasons.
This means that profitability is the main concern , and the way for railways 
to make money is to run many trains over few tracks, ie minimise  the 
fixed  component of their costs and maximise the income from the 
variable component.
This really means sadly , that tracks which dont carry many trains have really 
got to be looked at hard if their existance is to be assured.

Having said all this though , there are a couple of areas where guage 
conversion would make some sense .
If FV sees a market in SW NSW for grain products, then guage conversion of 
Mangalore to Tocumwal,and the re-opening of Naranderra to Tocumwal would make 
a lot of sense.
Such a conversion , would see the BG line north of Seymour closed ,and VLP run 
its pass trains on SG,and VLF run its freights on SG.
This would increase the utilization of the SG line to around 60%-70%,and would 
provide additional income to ARTC , and also more customers for the line who 
could in turn apply pressure for the line to be completely upgraded to 60KG/m 
on concrete,as this level of traffic would justify it.
Railing grain from SW NSW to Geelong via Naranderra / Tocumwal is a hell of 
a lot cheaper than going to Sydney, due to the lack of severe grades facing 
Geelong bound trains,even from places as far away as Hillston.

Of course Freightcorp wont like any of this , but this is what competition is 
all about.

cheers
MD