 High speed train Melbourne to Sydney
On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 09:36:20 +1100, johnboy wrote:
> Gone quiet because every one realises that its not worth it. Huge outlay for
> little income.
And the cost of air craft makes setting up an airline pretty expensive
to. Thats why we only have 2.
A high speed line between Sydney and Melbourne could probably be very
successful in terms of passengers carried and covering operations with
revenue.
The number of 'passenger movements' between Sydney and Melbourne is up
there with the busiest sectors in the world.
But the cost of building a 300km/hr line, interest on the costs, interest
on the interest, taxes , etc, mean the capital will never be covered by
revenue even if it runs all trains 100% full.
On the air side the Government built the ground infrastructure and it's
relatively easy to lease aircraft, the finance companies always know they
can reposses the aircraft and lease them to some one else. The big fixed
lump of infrastructure on the ground was publicly funded.
A bank can't do a lot with a repossed railway. Look at Eurotunnel. The
lenders have effectively lost. They have to just keep accepting the losses
as a pittance is better than being owners of a hole in the ground they
can't use for anything at all.
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