Trains advantage

inlander · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2003 9:42 pm

I have read with interest, the steady decline of country link which is merely a continuation of a long process.

In Queensland , we have proven that there is a market for trains that have dining, sleeping, club facilities(Inc GSR as well). Why then do the experts do away with trains that offer this?

What Nsw did by riding itself of the Brisbane limited was:
- lost a very good and convenient timetable.
-lost rails competitive advantage with Motorail, sleepers and dining facilities.

You could arrive refreshed in the centre of Sydneys CBD in the AM-.

What does the XPt offer?- airline style appoinments without the speed
- a smeggy timetable.
-a new level of comfort(the european seats are like rocks and the sleepers buck and smell of diesel fumes)

Soi i say why bother if you are not going to use the advantages of rail, we are never going to compete with the airlines unless we have a high speed dedicated rail line and that is very doubtful given our population density .Lets find that niche rail market like Qld and GSR have and get market share! Smile

Forgive those who do not travel by train for they will not inherit the earth!

Riccardo · Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 7:58 am

A wonderful post!

Some niches...

Sydney Broadmeadow Muswellbrook Gulgong Mudgee and return via Lithgow. Make a big thing of people loading up booze in the freight compartment. This will get some full fare payers

Run another booze express to Griffith (or make it more of a foodies thing, as the MIA also is famous for this)

For the 7hour plus journeys - only run them as overnighters with sleeping cars or very long reclining chairs (like at what the airlines now do, this shouldn't cost Countrylink a fortune to do). This could do Armidale nicely. Start running them ONLY around University semester breaks/pub hols etc, then try to expand to all year. Proper entertainment cars.

The problem with overnighters politically is that in fact, as was argued in other posts Countrylink is in fact a welfare service and a handout for pensioners. I am told the old dearies won't stay on a train overnight.
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pennoes · Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 10:58 am

Two very sensible posts
Keep up the constructive comments guys!

I long for the day when we have a dedicated VFT, but until then, lets maximise what we can and use the existing advantages of rail currently!

Good thinking... Wink