trains in Australia

Somebody · Coal Joined: Feb 01, 2008 Posts: 10 Location: Australia

The Casino-Murwillumbah line was closed for good reason - all it had was a useless once daily train to Sydney full of pensioners and Centrelink recipients. The alignment was twisty and windy, it cost a lot more to maintain than other lines, as it had no freight or potential for freight.

Sydney has the best quality suburban rail trackage in Australia, so I don't know what you're on about. Have you ever been to Adelaide? The Gawler line has some awful track - it has an average of one speed restriction for every 800 metres. Also with the exception of around 5 stations, the entire suburban network has no station staff.

sparky · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 09, 2007 Posts: 133

Oh , Somebody ..you seems to know what you are talking about ,
I certainly respect that ,
true the Byron side line is a wretched thing , people in it are few and on some concession or other .

Your contention that Sydney city has the best tracks in Australia ,I shall accept on trust , with the proviso that it means pretty little , Australia isn't at the cutting edge by a long shot .
Take my furious comments as a heartfelt frustration at Sydney rail services , all those who advocate rail as the answers to Peak oil are ignoring the fact that commuters would rather drive than be submitted to the daily indignity .

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Somebody · Coal Joined: Feb 01, 2008 Posts: 10 Location: Australia

Now that Adelaide is spending $2bil over 10yrs to redevelop their network, they'll probably take the title of best track! A far cry from their current offering - see:
http://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/general/pdfs/OMPbudget.pdf

Back to Byron Bay - I'd love to see a proper heavy rail link from South East Queensland to the Northern Rivers region, possibly running to somewhere like Casino where it could connect with trains to Sydney. Unfortunately the Sydney-centric XPT service was completely useless for any local travel or going to the nearest capital city (Brisbane) - even the people up there have said they don't want the old train back! Laughing

sparky · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 09, 2007 Posts: 133

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Amen to that , I agree with you that a plain no nonsense rebuilding of the rail is something to be wished for ,
but it's going to be a long , complex and costly exercise .

Because of the Sydney light rail and monorail circus I distrust the light rail option as a political knee-jerk reaction , much loved by politicians who get high on cutting ribbons under flash lights ,
we end up with a brace of stations not integrated in the trains / buses feeder lines .It could work, but buses are more economical and flexible .

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fiedag · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 20, 2006 Posts: 29

Here in Adelaide we have had a reasonably successful O-Bahn for many years. It is a concrete track for buses, allowing them to go express to a regional hub about 12km out from the CBD.

I have never heard of any plans to extend it. I don't know why. It seems like "low hanging fruit". Anyone have any clues?

alokin · Intermediate Crude Joined: Aug 24, 2007 Posts: 792

right now, oil prices heading to $150 the government should wake up. here in Brissie, they still undertake huge road projects, bridges and tunnels. If this money would be spent in our poor citytrain or in the Brisbane- Sydney railway line we had some result.
Maybe we should all become member of the railway club if something like this exists.

sparky · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 09, 2007 Posts: 133

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I like the idea of buses-ways , we have corridors for taxis and buses and it help a lot ,

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Hagakure_Leofman · Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 5:44 am Post subject: Re: trains in Auistralia

Dukat_Reloaded · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jul 31, 2005 Posts: 1007

Somebody · Coal Joined: Feb 01, 2008 Posts: 10 Location: Australia