Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Saturday, 15 January 2005

The company behind the Adelaide to Darwin rail freight service says in the
first 12 months the railway has performed beyond expectations.

http://www.abc.net.au/darwin/news/200501/s1282507.htm

From:	shane.polle at austmg.com
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	17 Jan 2005 20:43:41 -0800

Paul Blair wrote:
> David Bromage wrote:
> > Les Brown wrote:
> >
> >> And the day that Ford gets their the B-Triples of the roads and
moves
> >> back
> >> to rail, can never come soon enough for me.
> >
> >
> > The TIA is lobbying for tri-tri-tri triples to be allowed on the
major
> > highways. They claim it will be more efficient as two of them can
do the
> > work of three doubles. But they stress that these are not road
trains
> > and would only be used on divided highways between capital cities.
> >
> > Cheers
> > David
>
> Interesting, as we don't have any capital to capital road that is
> divided the entire length (Canberra-Sydney is, sort of, but not a
major
> freight link)
>
> Paul Blair

Considering the limited felxibility (routes) and hence double handling,
cost of tyres, poor fuel economy compared to rail etc, there must be a
point where even bigger trucks are simply not competetive against rail.
At list a guy driving a semi or even a B-double can offer fast door to
door service.

Shane

From:	shane.polle at austmg.com
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	16 Jan 2005 18:27:09 -0800

David Bromage wrote:
> Petzl wrote:
> > Next Heavy Rail direction should be to Mt Isa and beyond
>
> Actually Tennant Creek to Mt Isa and Katherine to Wyndham are in the
> "maybe" categories. Depends how the road feeder services to the
railway
> progress in the next few years.
>
> Cheers
> David

It will be hard to justify going to Mt Isa. The current 1000km long
railway from Isa to T'ville has no initial capital payback requirement.
Only MTCE and upgrading.

What is the likely saving in rail distance? 200-300km? @ say 3c/t/km so
$9/t! This could easily be consumed by capitial repayment costs.

What is the saving in shipping? Probbaly minimal?

New port facilities have to be built, anything wrong with current? IS
an expansion required?

Reducing traffic on Mt Isa line will only increase the unit MTCE costs
for the remaining freight.

However if a SG line is built to Mt Isa, it should go as DG direct to
Cloncurry, not via the current dogs leg and both lines would pick up
more freight.

Shane

From:	witchelina at nospam.com
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Sun, 23 Jan 2005 12:42:05 +0930

shane.polle@austmg.com wrote:

>
> It will be hard to justify going to Mt Isa. The current 1000km long
> railway from Isa to T'ville has no initial capital payback requirement.
> Only MTCE and upgrading.
>
> What is the likely saving in rail distance? 200-300km? @ say 3c/t/km so
> $9/t! This could easily be consumed by capitial repayment costs.
>
> What is the saving in shipping? Probbaly minimal?
>
> New port facilities have to be built, anything wrong with current? IS
> an expansion required?
>
> Reducing traffic on Mt Isa line will only increase the unit MTCE costs
> for the remaining freight.
>
> However if a SG line is built to Mt Isa, it should go as DG direct to
> Cloncurry, not via the current dogs leg and both lines would pick up
> more freight.

Any private consortium WITHOUT tax payers money who
wishes to build a standard gauge link from the AS to
DAR standard to QR skinny gauge is "hereby invited to
piss their money against the wall".

From:	Petzl
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Wed, 19 Jan 2005 17:52:11 +1100

On 16 Jan 2005 18:27:09 -0800, shane.polle@austmg.com wrote:

>
>David Bromage wrote:
>> Petzl wrote:
>> > Next Heavy Rail direction should be to Mt Isa and beyond
>>
>> Actually Tennant Creek to Mt Isa and Katherine to Wyndham are in the
>> "maybe" categories. Depends how the road feeder services to the
>railway
>> progress in the next few years.
>>
>> Cheers
>> David
>
>It will be hard to justify going to Mt Isa. The current 1000km long
>railway from Isa to T'ville has no initial capital payback requirement.
>Only MTCE and upgrading.
>
>What is the likely saving in rail distance? 200-300km? @ say 3c/t/km so
>$9/t! This could easily be consumed by capitial repayment costs.
>
>What is the saving in shipping? Probbaly minimal?
>
>New port facilities have to be built, anything wrong with current? IS
>an expansion required?
>
>Reducing traffic on Mt Isa line will only increase the unit MTCE costs
>for the remaining freight.
>
>However if a SG line is built to Mt Isa, it should go as DG direct to
>Cloncurry, not via the current dogs leg and both lines would pick up
>more freight.
>
>Shane

Between Mt Isa and Tenant Creek there are tonnes of resources that
become very viable if transport costs come down

Access to a second port also makes for competition

This is one of many cases where heavy rail will pay handsomely

__
--
Replace the lot with MonoRail
The tracks below turned into Tollways

http://home.iprimus.com.au/petzl/Mono.htm

From:	Dave Proctor
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Thu, 20 Jan 2005 01:38:50 +1100

On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 17:52:11 +1100, Petzl
wrote:

[...drivel snipped...]

Piss off, PretzDill.

Dave

=====

NSW Rural Fire Service - become a volunteer today.

http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/

From:	JohnMcCandless
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Wed, 19 Jan 2005 15:23:19 GMT

>
> However if a SG line is built to Mt Isa, it should go as DG direct to
> Cloncurry, not via the current dogs leg and both lines would pick up
> more freight.

I'm fairly sure that's the plan... The dogsleg through Duchess is only there
because of historical circumstances, anyway. (ie, there was no Mt Isa when
the line was first laid). I'm thinking the SG line may come in from the
north, roughly on the old Kajabbi branch alignment...

Johnmc

From:	Petzl
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Sun, 16 Jan 2005 11:14:50 +1100

On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 00:26:46 +1100, "Alex Mills"
wrote:

>Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
>Saturday, 15 January 2005
>
>The company behind the Adelaide to Darwin rail freight service says in the
>first 12 months the railway has performed beyond expectations.
>
>http://www.abc.net.au/darwin/news/200501/s1282507.htm
>

To be expected Privatly Run

Next Heavy Rail direction should be to Mt Isa and beyond

Petzl
--
LET'S LOOK OUT FOR AUSTRALIA
http://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/
Protecting our way of life from terrorist threat

From:	Dave Proctor
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Sun, 16 Jan 2005 12:01:19 +1100

On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 11:14:50 +1100, Petzl
wrote:

[...drivel snipped...]

Piss off PretzDill.

Dave

=====

NSW Rural Fire Service - become a volunteer today.

http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/

From:	Roy Wilke
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Sun, 16 Jan 2005 14:11:56 +1000

Petzl wrote:

(snip)

>
> Next Heavy Rail direction should be to Mt Isa and beyond

I take it you think that the line connecting Townsville with Mt Isa is
only suitable for trams?

From:	Mick
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Sun, 16 Jan 2005 04:21:10 GMT

"Roy Wilke" wrote in message
news:41e9e98c$0$20754$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
>
>
> Petzl wrote:
>
> (snip)
>
> >
> > Next Heavy Rail direction should be to Mt Isa and beyond
>
> I take it you think that the line connecting Townsville with Mt Isa is
> only suitable for trams?
>
Do Mono-Rails qualify? (;-) LOL
--
Mick (:-D
"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which
they seldom use."
Soren Kierkegaard
Danish Philosopher 1813-1855

From:	qwerty
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Sun, 16 Jan 2005 04:54:33 GMT

"Mick" wrote in message
Do Mono-Rails qualify? (;-) LOL

oh pleeeese, dont start!...
I was still trying to work out how they change the Indian Pacific change
boogies to a Mono-Rail when Transoprt Minister Pretzl takes over!

From:	JohnMcCandless
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Wed, 19 Jan 2005 15:19:20 GMT

"Roy Wilke" wrote in
message news:41e9e98c$0$20754$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
>
>
> Petzl wrote:
>
> (snip)
>
> >
> > Next Heavy Rail direction should be to Mt Isa and beyond
>
> I take it you think that the line connecting Townsville with Mt Isa is
> only suitable for trams?

Heh... in its' current state, he's not far off the mark...

Johnmc

From:	David Bromage
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Sun, 16 Jan 2005 11:33:12 +1100

Petzl wrote:
> Next Heavy Rail direction should be to Mt Isa and beyond

Actually Tennant Creek to Mt Isa and Katherine to Wyndham are in the
"maybe" categories. Depends how the road feeder services to the railway
progress in the next few years.

Cheers
David

From:	jim.gordon
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Sun, 16 Jan 2005 04:49:27 GMT

The sleeper making plant is still at Tennant Creek, everything is there, and
could possibly be up and running in a few weeks, when the need for it
arises,....Jimbo

"David Bromage" wrote in message
news:cscckd$sdh$2@news-02.connect.com.au...
> Petzl wrote:
> > Next Heavy Rail direction should be to Mt Isa and beyond
>
> Actually Tennant Creek to Mt Isa and Katherine to Wyndham are in the
> "maybe" categories. Depends how the road feeder services to the railway
> progress in the next few years.
>
> Cheers
> David

From:	David Bromage
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Mon, 17 Jan 2005 10:05:35 +1100

Somebody from the Trucking Industry Association was on ABC radio
complaining that too much freight was being carried by rail.

Cheers
David

From:	Paul Blair
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Tue, 18 Jan 2005 08:47:58 +1100

David Bromage wrote:
> Somebody from the Trucking Industry Association was on ABC radio
> complaining that too much freight was being carried by rail.
>
> Cheers
> David

As a matter of interest, does anyone have a list (by commodity) of items
hauled south-north and vice versa? Leaving out the army exercise (an
unusual event) what would the figures show? What percentage of freight
is free of insurance claims?

Paul Blair

From:	witchelina at nospam.com
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Sun, 23 Jan 2005 12:41:55 +0930

David Bromage
wrote:

> Somebody from the Trucking Industry Association was on ABC radio
> complaining that too much freight was being carried by rail.

Yes and they have a case, FreightLink after giving
freight forwarders a price they would find hard to
resist before the first train lobbed in Darwin twelve
months ago, have kicked the price up twice.!
No surprise that the decimated road train industry is
making a slow but steady come back.

From:	Les Brown
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Mon, 17 Jan 2005 23:56:17 GMT

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 10:05:35 +1100, David Bromage
wrote:

>Somebody from the Trucking Industry Association was on ABC radio
>complaining that too much freight was being carried by rail.
>
The Trucking Industry is apparently in quite a turmoil at the moment. With a
few similar problems to rail transport (ie; aging, near-retirement drivers
and higher OH&S requirements) they are also suffering from squeezed margins
due to the pressure of a more highly competitive rail transport and
envrionmental concerns.

Whilst no sane person would ever deny that road transport has an even more
important role to play than rail transport, the fact of the matter is that
rail is now coming into its own and that road must now either find ways of
working with rail, as is happening in North America, or compete against it
and risk going bust. Whilst I prefer the the former, I doubt I'll be
shedding any tears for every long distance trucking operation that fails and
falls by the way.

And the day that Ford gets their the B-Triples of the roads and moves back
to rail, can never come soon enough for me.

Les Brown

From:	David Bromage
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Tue, 18 Jan 2005 11:24:30 +1100

Les Brown wrote:
> And the day that Ford gets their the B-Triples of the roads and moves back
> to rail, can never come soon enough for me.

The TIA is lobbying for tri-tri-tri triples to be allowed on the major
highways. They claim it will be more efficient as two of them can do the
work of three doubles. But they stress that these are not road trains
and would only be used on divided highways between capital cities.

Cheers
David

From:	Les Brown
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Tue, 18 Jan 2005 11:43:01 GMT

On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 11:24:30 +1100, David Bromage
wrote:

>Les Brown wrote:
>> And the day that Ford gets their the B-Triples of the roads and moves back
>> to rail, can never come soon enough for me.
>
>The TIA is lobbying for tri-tri-tri triples to be allowed on the major
>highways. They claim it will be more efficient as two of them can do the
>work of three doubles. But they stress that these are not road trains
>and would only be used on divided highways between capital cities.
>
It seems as though the Western Ring-Road was built with Ford in mind. I
wonder how safe this new "monarch of the road" would be?

Les Brown

From:	Paul Blair
Subject:	Re: ABC News - Adelaide to Darwin railway pulls its weight
Date:	Tue, 18 Jan 2005 11:51:53 +1100

David Bromage wrote:
> Les Brown wrote:
>
>> And the day that Ford gets their the B-Triples of the roads and moves
>> back
>> to rail, can never come soon enough for me.
>
>
> The TIA is lobbying for tri-tri-tri triples to be allowed on the major
> highways. They claim it will be more efficient as two of them can do the
> work of three doubles. But they stress that these are not road trains
> and would only be used on divided highways between capital cities.
>
> Cheers
> David

Interesting, as we don't have any capital to capital road that is
divided the entire length (Canberra-Sydney is, sort of, but not a major
freight link)

Paul Blair