The final say.
It is hard to believe that in 1998 we have a situation where 3 different
organisations have request access to the Webb Dock Line over the past 3
years. There is enough business in that dock for rail to eclipse any other
dock in the Port of Melbourne. Further, The line was originally laid for
dual gauage on the road crossings and the Yarra River bridge as V/line
originally saw the need for a SG service to Web Dock. However, the
Government of Victoria's anti-rail policy has won over again. IMHO, Vline
Freight are far too soft as are the Port of Melbourne. (Is the port of
Melbourne Authority worth anything less in value since inadequate rail
access is now a problem?)
Finally, one could be excused for thinking the value V/line Frieght would
now be worth significantly less to a rail company looking at purchasing the
organisation. If we assume the creme de la creme of container traffic
growth is coming out of Web Dock, or will over the next few years, then we
have taken a significant slice of end to end available business away from
rail in Melbourne (and this country) and probably prevented any competition
to trucking in and out of the biggest/busiest dock in Melbourne. From a
transport perspective, that is disgraceful and perhaps criminal. What are
the implications for exporting farmers who want to create a direct link to
the ports? It would appear the needs of our primary producing friends in
the rural sector have been overlooked once again.
The following was printed in the Age Newspaper yesterday by the Victorian
Government which in light of recent events with the docklands, makes me laugh
"SALE OF V/LINE FREIGHT CORPORATION"
"....... V/Line Freight is a rail-based freight business centred in
Victoria, the hub of Australia's transport industry and centre of
Australian manufacturing-based activity....."
Victoria is a big looser today, perhaps another nail in the coffin of
Australia's alledged "National Transport Hub" ? How can you make a
statement (as above) witha very small portion of your biggest customer base
inaccessible?
Comments?
Regards,
Brian Evans
At 11:22 2/08/98 +1000, you wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I've just got home from night shift and a quick photographic trip to the
>Webb Dock Line.
>As Yuri stated, the track is ripped up a few hundred metres past the
>Footscray Road level crossing.
>P20 was sitting on the North end of the rail train (i.e. the train
>pushed back from West Tower)
>almost near the end of the track. This was about 08:30, there was still
>plenty of rail to load.
>The trackwork I refered to in my original e-mail was at West Tower, I
>had no idea until this
>morning that there had been 2 km of track taken up further down the
>line.
>
>I hope I didn't get anyone's hopes up of a train on the Webb Dock line,
>I know I was looking forward to it.
>(The last train I got on this line was a T-Y combination on a container
>train many years ago).
>
>Doug.
>
>P.S. another rail line bites the dust.........
>