Re: Second rate Alice - Darwin line?

[Richard <richard_snook@primus.com.au>]

Agree with comment...just a thought...these days you can have lighter
stronger steel, our  own Broken Hill of Promises developed a lot of
technology  for the harrdening of the railhead without resort to ultra heavy
rail. Also correct me where wrong dont the new sleeper plates (rail bearers)
which utilise better cushioning provide for allowance of "lighter" rail. This
could prove a savings of near 8-10% depending upon comparative rails , thats
a lot of steel. I would imagine they would build line to be as maintenance
free as possible.

Having said all that, you would think it terribly unlikely to build a line
using under say 53 and more like  using 55-57 to extend life "between
breaks". As usual the paper has probably picked up the first figure it saw
and that was good enough for the story. Also most "people" would forget about
the supporting infrastructure and think only of from A to B.

Your point is well taken David...never underestimate the ability of the
"gurus" of project consensus to completely stuff things up.

Out of curiosity ....slightly fifferent tack...what are the top speeds of
such beasts as AC6000's.  It would make sense to utilise the biggest fastest
diesel camels available...without any real loading guage tio worry about..you
could buy off the shelf (made here of course!!)

Its going to be intersting to se how the polllies and lobbyists build
this...after all the engineers wouldnt have even bothered...wrong place!!
wrong reason!!

cheers >:~)) Richard

David Bromage wrote:

> The Australian (29/10, p1) reports that 155,000t of rail will be required
> to build the 1410km line. Leaving aside sigings for a moment, the main
> line alone requires 1,410,000 * 2 * 60 = 169,200 t of rail.
>
> Let's add 10 loops at 1.6km each, plus another 80km for 5 sidings. This
> gives 3.3 million metres of rail.
>
> Here's the punchline: 155,000,000 kg / 3,300,000 m = 46.96 kg/m.
>
> Can they relly be so stupid as to build it with 47kg rail??????
>
> Cheers
> David