Re: National Rail Corp

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

In article <37d8dbab@nap-ns1> "Grahame Ferguson" <grahamef@users.mcmedia.com.au> writes:
>From: "Grahame Ferguson" <grahamef@users.mcmedia.com.au>
>Subject: Re: National Rail Corp
>Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 19:40:26 +1000


>The point that we are all missing is that the creation of the NRC was
>supposed to be the start of seamless, one stop shop for rail freight to
>effectively and collectively to compete with road transport.  Instead we now
>have a mongrel hybrid of a national rail system.


Strictly speaking we dont have a National Rail System at all.
Keating realized this after the creation of NRC and tried to also create what
was then to be called Track Australia to own and administer the National Track.
Of course Track Australia never happened and despite multitudinous meetings
between the State & The Feds where everyone agreed in principle that a 
National Rail Network was needed and needed to be administered by the one body 
nothings actually happened.
When the concept of the creation of ARTC was discussed again all the State 
Transport Ministers agreed it was a good idea and should go ahead ,but when 
the time came for them to put their money (ie their tracks) where their mouths 
were,only Victoria agreed,and the rest simply refused to do so , citing an 
incredible array of bullshit reasons.
ARTC and for that matter the Feds are left in a total bind , in that ARTC cant 
do its job , ie to be a one stop shop which it was intended to be , and the 
Feds cant do anything to fix the problem , thanks to our totally stupid 
constitution which gives all the rights regarding rail to the states.
Westrail is intending to privatise its freight Network including the SG line 
from Kalgoorlie to Perth.
The Consortium trying to build the Alice Sp to Darwin line are intending to 
create their own access regime , which will be totally incompatible with all 
the rest.
Whoever buys NRC will still be left with a complete mess as far as 
access,accreditation,etc are concerned.

Both the two previous inquiries,ie the Neville inquiry and the Smorgon inquiry
recognised these problems and naturally recommended that massive Rail Reform
is needed.
Its almost certain that the PC inquiry will recommend exactly the same thing.
The bind for the Feds is that whilst they can throw money at fixing up the 
rail infrastructure,they cant fix the State caused problems , and the federal 
Transport Minister has indicated ,rightly so in my view, that there will be no 
money for Rail infrastructure improvement,unless the States agree to allow 
ARTC to do its job , ie hand over their National Track.
As theres no chance in hell of this happening , the feds will simply throw 
their hands in the air, sell NRC which gets them out of Rail altogether and in 
a couple of years will sell ARTC.
In the meantime we will get more and more heavy trucks on the roads , and rail 
will lose more and more market share .
Sorry for this scenerio, but I cant see any fix in the near future.

MD