1 hour delay of the fruity into Melbourne today https://www.railpage.com.au/railcams/bunbury-street/photo/30946290098 anyone know why congestion again?Waiting for 6MC2 to Griffith to vacate the pad roads at Appleton Dock.
1 hour delay of the fruity into Melbourne today https://www.railpage.com.au/railcams/bunbury-street/photo/30946290098 anyone know why congestion again?Waiting for 6MC2 to Griffith to vacate the pad roads at Appleton Dock.
8163-X48-G520 now the motive power with loading dropping to as low as 33 wagons. It was around 60 on BG.Come on, now bevans, not fudging the figures are you ? The Frutie has been 45 and 60 wagons, since it resumed on standard gauge, as well.
8163-X48-G520 now the motive power with loading dropping to as low as 33 wagons. It was around 60 on BG.Come on, now bevans, not fudging the figures are you ? The Frutie has been 45 and 60 wagons, since it resumed on standard gauge, as well.
More likely seasonal fluctuations, rather than gauge related.
BigShunter.
Why are they running 2 or 3 different loco classes on this service? I know the Gs and XRs seem to be packaged together for Victorian running (im assuming they provide a nice level of HP etc). But why not use a more consistent fleet on the service? And yes, I know the Gcl and 81cl (as well as the BLcl) are the same more or less) but theyre still just that bit different no? Or are they really in essence the same?Locos are rostered to haul the load at the required speed, taking into account compatibility between classes eg continuous speed ratings. This will be more or less important depending upon locos and the road and may result in load hauling being less than the combined loads for the locos involved.
A look several posts back in this thread will reveal some Greensleeves post SG Videos with about 60 wagons on the "Fruitie".8163-X48-G520 now the motive power with loading dropping to as low as 33 wagons. It was around 60 on BG.Come on, now bevans, not fudging the figures are you ? The Frutie has been 45 and 60 wagons, since it resumed on standard gauge, as well.
More likely seasonal fluctuations, rather than gauge related.
BigShunter.
Hey, I have research this at ghaploop stats and the train is 1/2 the size.
Why the drop in traffic?
No Petroleum
No Cement
No LCL (which was quite popular in Mildura)
No lumber products
Limited places to load containers and other freight now with so much pulled out by Victrack.
It has all gone to road.
The BG fruity loaded at Manangatang was consistently 30 wagons 12 months ago in Oct 2017. It'll pick up again as the stone fruit season kicks in during Summer.8163-X48-G520 now the motive power with loading dropping to as low as 33 wagons. It was around 60 on BG.Come on, now bevans, not fudging the figures are you ? The Frutie has been 45 and 60 wagons, since it resumed on standard gauge, as well.
More likely seasonal fluctuations, rather than gauge related.
BigShunter.
Hey, I have research this at ghaploop stats and the train is 1/2 the size.
1: Who owned the fuel loading points on rail caused this1; exactly, as discussed numerous times on RP rail is not suited to modern short or medium haul fuel business and to comply with modern standards a new fuel loading point would cost a fortune, you can't just spill it into the dirt and cover it with sawdust anymore, the EPA will close you down.
2: Customers choice. And it's still in containers from memory.
3: Neither here nor there. It's a little bit of a faf
4: For some reason I dont recall the Mildura line being big on lumber products
PN killed the oil into Mildura when they were forced to change shunting practices. Then again PN have killed most traffic under them except for containers.As far as I can tell, PN is more like a hook and pull operator and relies more on other freight amalgamators to bring rail worthy volumes to it (eg LINX, Toll etc). the Mildura train is probably filled by and large by Wakefields. So it isnt necessarily PN not developing those markets (as they are not in the business of doing so) but the interface between PN and forwarders being somewhat less than supportive of rail volumes IMO.
Mildura has a building boom for years. I never saw building products talked about on trains.
PN Mildura has a very narrow focus for freight.
PN have not developed any new marked out of Mildura.
After SG there is almost nothing left in infrastructure there. The current loading area is controlled by the loading company not open.
With the SG now open to Mildura I am sure the likes of SSR are looking at what is avl up there but don't expect anyone to go chasing traffic that is either not there or not viable for rail.
BG
New traffic can never be profitable if it involves additional infrastructure as someone (ultimately the customer) must pay for it.I disagree with this. If an operator had to build it all then yes id agree, but if it was the case of building some sidings and using the existing track (eg Mildura to Port) then it may well stack up. How did the original operators get to be where they are? Fletchers and Crawfords built theirs out of successful trucking businesses. And Crawfords are in the process (and I hope theyre successful) in doing it again at Werris Creek). And NSW did recognise the benefits of this with the Fixing Country Rail program, which Victoria needs to embrace.
The foregoing means that only those with existing infrastructure, terminal and suitable operations can bid for it.
Crawfords and Fletchers are in NSW where at least some infrastructure remained. In Victoria there is virtually nothing upon which to build eg the Ararat shambles.New traffic can never be profitable if it involves additional infrastructure as someone (ultimately the customer) must pay for it.I disagree with this. If an operator had to build it all then yes id agree, but if it was the case of building some sidings and using the existing track (eg Mildura to Port) then it may well stack up. How did the original operators get to be where they are? Fletchers and Crawfords built theirs out of successful trucking businesses. And Crawfords are in the process (and I hope theyre successful) in doing it again at Werris Creek). And NSW did recognise the benefits of this with the Fixing Country Rail program, which Victoria needs to embrace.
The foregoing means that only those with existing infrastructure, terminal and suitable operations can bid for it.
Note that the Federal Government has embraced the functionality of the FCR program in some of their infrastructure investment programs recently. Victoria cant be too far behind. VLine has a freight manager now so maybe the message will start coming through that channel?
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