Re: Second rate Alice - Darwin line?

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

In article <ipgU3.11695$we.19106@newsfeeds.bigpond.com> "Stephen Devenish" <JohnnyR@bigpond.com> writes:
>From: "Stephen Devenish" <JohnnyR@bigpond.com>
>Subject: Re: Second rate Alice - Darwin line?
>Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 01:06:38 +1100

>Maurie has it

>Why use 60kg rail on a line that will not be seeing more than a couple of
>trains a day?  You have to look at the amount of traffic.  Maurie might be
>able to tell us what the current usage of the track is now and I wouldn't
>see it increasing 10 to 20 fold.

>47kg rail on concrete sleepers is a good track structure and if managed
>correctly will provide service for the foreseeable future, if Australia
>started rail profile grinding like in the states then the rail would last
>even longer, add to this a little bit of tamping when required and you
>should be OK for a long while.  If traffic increases and heavier axle loads
>are required the go ahead and re rail, but why pay out more money initially
>just for the future if the project is very tight?  Who knows this could end
>up being the Number one line in Australia and may have to be upgraded sooner
>rather than later.

>I don't know whats happening with the other proposal to run the line via the
>inland eastern seaboard to Darwin via VIC, NSW , QLD & NT, but if this got
>off the ground it could make the Darwin to Alice line redundant?


>Stephen Devenish

Its probably also worth mentioning that in 1994 the BTCE on the request of NRC 
undertook an economic analysis of upgrading the TAR from 47 kg/m to 60 kg/m.
Estimated to cost $500 M , the BTCE came to the view that the upgrade was 
totally uneconomic,given the train density then (more trains then than now) 
,and also given the most optimistic projections of traffic increase over the 
next 20 years.
Currently ,tarcoola to AP gets one freight train per day , plus the Ghan and 
thats it, its the most underutilized main line in Australia.
Obviously , one could expect an increase in traffic with the line going thru 
to darwin , but how much?
Ive not seen any definitive analysis of how many trains are going to use the 
line.
With the current train densities, track access charges will need to be set at 
around 34 c/gtk, clearly a nonsensical figure, or conversly we need around 40 
1000 tonne trains per day, merely to pay the interest bill on the capital 
injected by the private consortium.
Also , the question needs to be asked of where are the trains to and 
from darwin ultimately going to go to.?
One would presume Melbourne and Sydney which means more trains on the Adelaide 
- Melb corridors and the Sydney - Pt Pirie corridors.
It would seem to me that fixing up these corridors, ie concrete sleepering of 
Ararat to Wolseley and Parkes to Broken Hill would be of far more benefit.

MD