[Vic.] $43m to upgrade rail freight lines

Mauried wrote:
>
> Why dont the "other operators" whio ever they are, convert some of
> their standard guage rolling stock to broad guage.

Given that virtually all rolling stock now runs on bogies, saying that
Asciano owns the vast majority of broad gauge freight vehicles means in
effect that they own the vast majority of broad gauge bogies. There may
also be loading gauge problems to a small extent.

The minuscule amount of broad gauge freight carried these days, and the
seasonal nature of grain cartage, means that most other operators aren't
going to be interested in acquiring new broad gauge bogies.

Paul Westcott

C. Dewick wrote:

>
> I doubt that would happen without federal government funding but if the Vic
> state government has taken back control of the lines in question, it
> certainly makes a viable case to have gauge-standardisation applied.
>
> There'd be plenty of opposition to it, especially since all the suburban
> trains, etc. in Vic are broad gauge, and it would be a huge expense, but
> probably a good move in the longer term to give much more inter-operability
> with the rest of the Australian rail network.
>

There are better things to spend money on than gauge conversion of the
suburban network. Most are self contained these days, so what would be
the long term gain? Double deckers from Sydney for instance would
require other loading gauge modifications to be usable.

Kevin Martin

Les Brown wrote:

>
> Maybe it could be the other way and run a few single-deckers to improve
> Sydney's dwell times.
>
> Les Brown

Er no, we are short of stock too. ;-)

Kevin Martin