Re: Very old news - the FailCorp folly continues full-steam ahead
C. Dewick
> They knew about the power peoblems when testing M sets
>
>
> Derailed: no power for new carriages
> a.. Linton Besser
> b.. March 10, 2009
> THE CityRail network has insufficient electric power to run the biggest
> order of new trains in Australia and has been forced to spend more than $1
> billion to fix the problem and to pay for other essential upgrades.
>
> The first of more than 600 rail carriages due to begin testing in October
> will be restricted to one section of the rail network until a program of
> capital improvements is completed, some of which are running years late and
> over budget.
This was the case when the S-set's were introduced around 1970, it was the
same when the Tangara's were introduced in the mid-1980's, and the same
when the Mi-Lemon's were introduced around the time of the Y2K-Bug
Olympics, so what's the big surprise? With some much additional surplus
electronics and electrical equipment on the newer trans combined with
their weight being significantly higher, there goes the existing
electricity supply capacity.
Remember to that the government also has to provide power for it's
de-salination plant - that alone will require about as much power or more
as the Kurri-Kurri aluminium smelter (which itself consumes approximately
1/1 to 1/2 of the total output of an Eraring-size power station. So this
might be the government's way of trying to justify building another
coal-fired power station in the HUnter Valley or somewhere else.
>Although RailCorp was aware more power was needed for the trains, the budget
>for the overhaul has blown out almost seven-fold.
Not to mention the budget for the trains themselves, as well as the budget
for the white-elephant Chatswood to Parramatta (truncated to Epping)
railway line.
> If too many of the trains are put into circulation at once, sections of the
> network will short-circuit, sources have confirmed.
Dunno about that, but overload yes.
> In a tender last year the State Government revealed "RailCorp does not
> currently have an enterprise-wide change strategy for achieving business
> readiness to accept [public-private partnership] implementation, and this
> represents a major risk".
>
> A July 2006 RailCorp investigation report revealed the power "capacity of
> the existing network is predicted to be exceeded in 2008". The
> organisation's three-year internal audit document identifies "inadequate
> power to run trains" as a medium level risk.
>
> Budget papers show the power upgrade should have finished this year at a
> cost of $125 million, but that has been pushed to 2012 after the program hit
> internal difficulties and its director was replaced 18 months ago.
Meaning the funding was diverted to pay for the desal plant.
> There is also nowhere for RailCorp to store the 498 carriages it intends to
> retire, let alone the 626 new ones. This is because the multi-million dollar
> stabling facility planned for the new trains at Leppington was included in
> the $1.36 billion South West Rail Link, which the Premier, Nathan Rees,
> dumped in the mini-budget in November.
He he railcorp started setting up for that facility at the back of the old
Clyde workshops more than 3 years ago and to say it won't be finished
until 2014 is a joke! Remember that when the Mi-Lemon's came out, there
was meant to be a big depot for them at Warnervale of all places, and when
the Tangara's first came out the main depot for them was meant to be St
Marys (using the land which is not part industrial estate and partly part
of the big controversial defence site redevlopment).
> One replacement facility at Auburn will not be completed before 2014, and
> RailCorp is now "exploring options" for another yard at Emu Plains. Mr
> Jovanovski said a "capacity analysis" was being undertaken.
Which would be Boral's quarry site at Emu Plains.
So the FailCorp folly continues....
Craig.
--
Craig Dewick -- HO-Scale Railway Modeller, Experienced Train/Locomotive Driver
Web: http://www.flickr.com/photos/navarzo http://lios.apana.org.au/~craigd
Location: Adelaide Web: http://www.railzone.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=125
Email: cra...@posion.lios.apana.org.au or craig....@poison.gmail.com