"H D" <
her...@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:ses9t.544$EY1...@viwinnwfe01.internal.bigpond.com...
>
> "Why are people so cruel" <
noon...@microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:0Aq9t.469$e66...@viwinnwfe02.internal.bigpond.com...
>>
>> "Dechucka" <
Dechu...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:C_udnY2YUOigmvvM...@westnet.com.au...
>>> Because people don't really needed to get between the Eastern Capital
>>> Cities quickly. Horse & cart, sailing ship or steam trains got them
>>> there just as effectively
>>
>> Yet another plonkers party dream about getting public servants from
>> one capital city to another, why? the $100bn NBN is supposed to
>> stop all this wasteful travel by using video conferences. Why add
>> another $150bn for a railway line that wont be used.
>>
>> And just to help you along goto the Qld Rail website and try to buy
>> a ticket from any Qld station to Sydney or Melbourne. They've
>> given up selling tickets, 'cos they know that a $50 airline fare is
>> unbeatable. just imagine what the airlines would do as soon as the
>> $150bn rail link opened with tickets at $300. I see another
>> Alice Springs - Darwin disaster looming if anyone even thinks about
>> this proposal other than people afraid of flying.
>>
>
> If you had any knowledge of what goes on in the world you would know that
> Lufthansa stopped flying all the routes that can be traversed by fast
> rail. No one did fly anymore.
Not surprising, considering the distances in Germany/Europe. Do they have
any high speed routes that cover 1000kms? Qantas did a survey of customers
a few years ago that was published in the flight magasine - from memory
about
60% of their business customers were doing business outside the CBD - which
sort of defeats the argument that CBD to CBD times are faster. The other
issue
is can the railways deliver the number of passengers that the airlines do in
a very
short time window - just look at the numbers of flights into and out of the
capitals
from 6am to 10am - rail would not be able to deliver a fraction of those
passengers.
The comparison with Europe is also flawed as they have a customer base of
well over 500 million people compared to our 25 million. Its very easy to
fill
a train when you've got 500 million potential customers.
> To go from Brisbane to Sydney by fast rail is a lot faster than flying
> including the time spent at airports.
> But I realize that the Liberals look at every excuse not to do any nation
> building.
The last railway built in Australia - Alice to Darwin - has been a financial
disaster, and that was built under a Liberal govt. I'd say once bitten twice
shy.
> Maybe they need all the money to buy a couple of hundred additional patrol
> boats so they can catch a little wooden
> fishing boat coming to Australia.
I noticed that Deutsche Bank were the sponsors of the last boat arrival,
maybe
they should take responsibility and fly them to NZ.
> A Liberal government?
> God help us all.
>
Probably, but with a Labor/Green coalition we have n't really had god's help
either. Maybe if your god could wave his magic wand and make the Labor
MPs numerate with their shoes on, we'd have a country that is not saddled
with debt for the next two generations. I would n't mind the debt so much
if it had been racked up actually doing something other than appeasing the
Greens/Independants and importing goods which could have been made
here if the government was not so easily swayed by lobbyists on behalf of
the importers. You really have to ask if New Labor has the country's
interests at heart, or whether the lobbyists and their ability to put money
in
overseas bank accounts is what New Labor is now all about.