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

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

mauried@commslab.gov.au (Maurie Daly) wrote in aus.rail:
>
>Why , we have a railway line between Melb and Sydney, and 80% of all the land 
>based freight goes by road , not rail.
>Simply having a railway line between two places is no guarantee that anyone 
>will use it in preferance to road.
>
Is this comparison valid?

Surely a better comparison in terms of distance, country traversed,
fuel costs, etc., would be Adelaide - Perth? I seem to recall freight
movement between these two cities to be at least 70% by rail. 

Whatever the percentage, you can't use Melbourne-Sydney as a bench
mark for rail utilisation around the country.

Les Brown