Re: Alice Springs to Darwin line, but wait, there is more.!

["Exnarc" <gwrly@netspace.net.au>]

< Tell > <telljb@OZozemail.com.au> wrote in message
79P5N1aYBnyPi3w7V8Pq5+HFOnQN@4ax.com">news:79P5N1aYBnyPi3w7V8Pq5+HFOnQN@4ax.com...
> "Bill Miller" <backtran@optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> >
> > What do you mean by "anything"? If you mean the current level of traffic
> > then OK, but surely not for the development of the iron ore or coal
> > deposits. If it were cheaper to do all this by truck the the Pilbara
would
> > be running trucks (a lot of them) instead of trains, all the traffic on
the
> > Nullabor would be on trucks.
>
> What iron ore and what coal are you talking about.?
> There is no iron ore worth worrying about.  The Lake
> Phillipson coal deposits south of Coober Pedy are a
> part of 'aus.rail urban folklore', the deposits are
> SHIT coal, there are ample supplies far closer to
> Adelaide than these.  The NT uses Natural Gas for power
> and will continue to use that source for a long-long
> time.  The pipeline from Alice to Darwin which carries
> the Mereenie/Palm Valley gas North will, when the
> supplies run low this end, carry the huge off shore
> deposits out from Darwin back down this way and all the
> way to Adelaide.!
>
> > It can come down to the chicken and egg thing, ie do you wait for the
> > traffic to warrant the railway or build the railway to encourage the
> > traffic. It may be this railway will not be built until a mining company
> > wants it done and then everyone else will benefit.
>
> There is nothing for any mining company which is not
> already being mined and could be carried with a semi
> let alone a road train.
>
> > Another issue is the level of cost recovery of these road trains. A lot
of
> > studies have shown the bigger trucks get the poorer the cost recovery
is.
> > Did the road train operators commit capital to the upgrade of the
Stuart? Of
> > course not, this is paid for (and risked) by the tax payer. The proposed
> > operator has to risk his AUD800m against 20 year or so payback with
little
> > knowledge of what the economy could be like over this time.  They have
> > directly contributed to it being financially inviable and need to fix
it.
>
> Cost recovery, well seeing that only a *fraction* of
> the taxes paid by Australian motorists and trucks
> actually finds its way back into the roads.  I am not
> sure what your point is.
> Railways pay stuff all taxes when compared with
> cars/trucks.  Keating, remember him, he slapped an
> excise on fuel for railways which has now been revoked
> by those terrible Torys.!  It was peanuts compared with
> the road impositions.


Terry there you go again, what have you been drinking???<g>

Tell us all so we can join in.

Bob.
> ----Terry Burton
> Alice Springs NT
> << remove OZ for Email reply.>>