Thread: why dont they use rail?

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Self appointed log book police are the last thing any owner-driver needs. They already got enough harassment from Highway Patrol, Country Roads Board grubs, mermaids, etc. How do a bunch of storemen know how long it takes a particular vehicle to go from Point A to Point B? We were doing Brisbane-Sydney shuttle in 1983 with 435 hp Detroits and doing it legal in 14 hours, Acacia Ridge to Marrickville via New England Highway and the Putty Road. There were then still guys on the road with sub-200 hp prime movers that struggled to make it in 19-20 hours and had to engage in a lot of literary creativity in their log books if they were to make a living.

Right up until drivers making under book time screw up Right on time deliveries. FIFO in small yards doesnt work when the gear doesnt turn up in order.

I doubt there's too many FIFO storemen in Marrickville, Dave.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Self appointed log book police are the last thing any owner-driver needs. They already got enough harassment from Highway Patrol, Country Roads Board grubs, mermaids, etc. How do a bunch of storemen know how long it takes a particular vehicle to go from Point A to Point B? We were doing Brisbane-Sydney shuttle in 1983 with 435 hp Detroits and doing it legal in 14 hours, Acacia Ridge to Marrickville via New England Highway and the Putty Road. There were then still guys on the road with sub-200 hp prime movers that struggled to make it in 19-20 hours and had to engage in a lot of literary creativity in their log books if they were to make a living.

We never had a problem with owner drivers, they appreciated what we were doing. Sub contract drivers for the tpt companies were another story. We paid for loads by weight and did not have ridiculous delivery demands. Most of the drivers I class as good mates and all we asked of them was to look after the load and look after themselves.

With regards to us being self appointed log book police, we had an obligation with regards to "Chain of Responsibility" legislation. 1983 was a long time ago and the laws and responsibilities change as does technology. We "a bunch of storemen" only have to read the consignment note that is printed prior to loading to know when the truck left another warehouse, even simple storemen a capable of doing the simple maths to work out how long the load took to get to our warehouse.

A brief run down of chain of responsibilty

Chain of Responsibility - Queensland Trucking Association

woody

Originally Posted by woody

A brief run down of chain of responsibilty

Chain of Responsibility - Queensland Trucking Association

woody

That makes interesting reading.

As an layman, reading it in the context of this discussion, it appears that there is actually a requirement for you to do what you described.

If you unload a driver who has obviously broken laws to get there early, it appears that you would not be "Avoiding arrangements which encourage or reward non-compliance."

As I said, interesting reading.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

My son is a civil engineer. He tells me that all new road bridges over rails in NSW will have to be designed and built to have clearance for double deck container wagons.

Dave is correct in that rail can not compete with road for general freight. Clients expect door to door in minimum time. Thirty years ago I was running four line haul trucks on Brisbane-Sydney shuttle, pick-up today, delivery next working day in the other city. Rail is good for bulk haulage, grain, mineral, shipping containers, and the like. A high speed long haul passenger rail service would have to compete on price with the airlines. In fact it would have to have a priced lower.

Have a good look at the maglev. Sydney to melbourne in 3 hours is in reality faster. 1 hr check in minimum + travel to the airport then you land in melbourne and how far are the 2 airports from the city centre and how much is the bus or taxi? What this meant is that it would be faster from home/ work to your destination along with no chance of delays due to weather . The maglev was proposed to go central sydney to central melbourne via wollongong and canberra.

My understanding is that Maglev trains are not suited to heavy haulage and are more for high speed passenger transfer.

I know that a freight handling company in the US was looking at a short haul (Under 12km) maglev freight mover for containerised freight but the system has to be purpose built to carry the loads.

Originally Posted by tony66_au

My understanding is that Maglev trains are not suited to heavy haulage and are more for high speed passenger transfer.

I know that a freight handling company in the US was looking at a short haul (Under 12km) maglev freight mover for containerised freight but the system has to be purpose built to carry the loads.

I believe that it is really quite expensive to run and maintain a Maglev system too.

I've been on the Maglev train that runs from Shanghai airport to the city a dozen times or so, and it is fantastically impressive. 400km/h+ meaning the 30km from airport to city are covered in about 7 mins.

I would doubt that the technology could ever be used over great distances like Syd-Mel, without spending a huge amount of money.

[Edit] Just looked at Wikipedia, and apparently it cost $1.2Billion for those 30km. Wow!

Yep, the argument is initial cost versus very low maintenance costs but the other issue is the amount of energy used which at cruising speed is quite low with the extreme being the cost of getting the rolling (Floating?) Stock moving.

And it seems to me like a job to be subbed out to a private consortium and then handed back to the Federal Gumbyment after a period of time not unlike the tunnels and toll roads.

I cant see this working if the chunks are funded by 3 or 4 state gumbyments as I feel parity would never be achieved and then we end up where we are with our rail network.

I also suggest that the load carrying capacity of a Maglev train would have to be chopped up into smaller shuttles to make it cost efficient which creates more traffic issues on the rail network but this time at 300 kph which is way beyond comfortable human control speeds in a congested environment.

Id imagine that nobody wants a 300 ton derailment at 100 kph let along 3 or 400 kph and this leads to residential action groups etc etc which is why I suspect no bugger wants the pin pulled on this particular grenade.

Kinda sad really because id travel on a Maglev train long distance....

Oh and somebody mentioned airport service?

This is where I envy Sydney lol

Melbourne has had this on the drawing board since Henry Bolte in the 60's and it still hasn't happened.

It would be great but I wont be holding my breath.