The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > This is no silver bullet (train) > Comments

This is no silver bullet (train) : Comments

By Ross Elliott, published 8/4/2019

A proposed High Speed Rail connecting Melbourne with Sydney and Brisbane is getting favourable press, but what are the hurdles?

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. 3
  5. All
As cheap as airfares are, those countries that have embraced fast trains. Demonstrate two things, train travel express between regional centres is both cheaper and faster. And safer?

What they can do offshore (anywhere else but here) can't be one here, because we're just too dumb to do it!

After all, one needs a functional brain to read and comprehend relevant facts and figures! But one that'll still rattle in a thimble to bag/destroy our viable affordable future! And those amenities that would enhance and assist it!
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Monday, 8 April 2019 2:34:12 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Aiden,

You miss the point entirely with your inane comment. As usual.

Here's one of Ross Elliott's key points: "HSR would take two or three hours and there may only be a few services a day in each direction."

And there is not a large enough population in that part of Australia to make extra trips commercially viable.

So tell us, Aiden, how many of those two or three (?) services will be able to bypass stations? To what effect on (a) revenue and (b) customer service and (c) efficiency?

And why haven't you dealt with the idiocy of similar disastrous grand gestures from the Left - NBN, pink batts, BER, free computers, NDIS? Billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars spent on crap. And you want to spend more because you've learned nothing. Nit-picking is rarely effective argument.

Still rolling out the NDIS and it's already lining up as a candidate for a royal commission. Doesn't even operate a customer call centre.
Posted by calwest, Monday, 8 April 2019 3:09:44 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Alan B.,

You have no evidence whatsoever that trains would be "both cheaper and faster". None.

And how many hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies do you consider "viable and affordable", since no business cased has been made? None.
Posted by calwest, Monday, 8 April 2019 3:27:59 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Talk about pie in the sky.

Trillions to acquire the right of way & even more to build the thing. Even if it could then carry thousands a day, the fare would have to be in the thousands of dollars each way to return the cost of construction, let alone the running costs, & then a profit.

Hell, even the crazy Californians have finally pulled the pin on their high speed rail project. The whole thing just couldn't justify the huge expenditure.

It is about time all public transport was required to turn a profit. Why should the hundreds of thousands with no public transport available have to subsidise those who have it, or want it.
Posted by Hasbeen, Monday, 8 April 2019 6:05:40 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
calwest,
The "two or three services a day in each direction" claim is based on another misunderstanding: that all trains would need to be very high capacity. That would be like trying to start an airline with only A380s!

Where the demand is there, railways can supply the capacity, and we could certainly get double decker high speed trains 400m long if we needed to. But we won't start out with those even on the Sydney to Melbourne expresses, let alone the country services where initial demand will be a lot lower.

Sydney to Melbourne is one of the world's busiest air routes, and Ross greatly underestimates high speed rail's ability to attract passengers who would otherwise fly. He seems not to understand that getting to the airport is usually more inconvenient than getting to the CBD. And he makes the ludicrous claim that "Each mode would have its own boarding and alighting procedures which would add equally to the trip time" oblivious to the fact that boarding and alighting are much quicker on trains because they have a lot more doors!

>And there is not a large enough population in that part of Australia to make extra trips commercially viable.
That's chicken and egg. Once the high speed rail comes, the population will follow.

(tbc)
Posted by Aidan, Monday, 8 April 2019 6:41:15 PM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
calwest (continued)

>And why haven't you dealt with the idiocy of similar disastrous grand gestures from the Left - NBN,
The Left aren't to blame there. The NBN was a good investment for the nation until the idiotic Libs decided to waste billions of dollars on FTTN. Even their superficially sensible policy of using existing HFC cables turned out to be a huge waste of money because they paid far too much for them.

>pink batts,
Easy to criticise with hindsight, but solar panels were expensive in those days, and improving energy efficiency was the best value thing we could do to reduce our carbon footprint.

>BER,
Excellent value in WA. Reasonable value in SA, Queensland and Tasmania.
It's only in NSW and Victoria, where overseeing the project was contracted out to the private sector, that the huge waste occurred. But still people like you fail to learn the lesson: if you want public money to be spent efficiently you need capable government; minimal government only brings false economies.

>free computers,
What free computers are you referring to? There were private education providers offering those as a signup bonus, but IIRC that was the result of a Howard government policy.

>NDIS?
Greatly improving the standard of living of disabled people and enabling them to be more productive. Money well spent!
Posted by Aidan, Monday, 8 April 2019 6:43:42 PM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. 3
  5. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy