And why not?

Bid for fast trains linking regional WA with Perth

And why not?

Bid for fast trains linking regional WA with Perth

$$$

If there's a case for doing it, yes, money well spent. More state governments should look at it.

The WA Government is in charge of a health system that cannot handle base-load cases without a Covid response and people expect them to be able to bring this to fruition? Not a chance.

Any spare $$ Mark McCoward has needs to go to more important projects than a regional fast rail system that doesn't have the population density to support even one train a day yet alone the number needed to make it worthwhile...

Yep. I reckon a two-hourly service stopping at Gnowangerup (pop ~600) makes sense.

Yep. I reckon a two-hourly service stopping at Gnowangerup (pop ~600) makes sense.

Maybe post project the plan is to turn 600 into 6000?

Will it stop at Mundrabilla?
I don't want passengers cluttering the Yard.

The Victorian experience demonstrates that “fast rail” (in reality, less slow, with huge increases in service frequency) resulted in several State seats going from essentially conservative to left wing parties. Would the politics be more important in WA than the finances?

Assuming reality sets in, could I become the evening shift Yard Master at Mundrabilla?

The Victorian experience demonstrates that “fast rail” (in reality, less slow, with huge increases in service frequency) resulted in several State seats going from essentially conservative to left wing parties. Would the politics be more important in WA than the finances?

Assuming reality sets in, could I become the evening shift Yard Master at Mundrabilla?

The victorian experience also showed that were service delivery was upgraded the people chose to use the system.  This is the experience in Europe.

Budget?

There is plenty of money flowing into the government's hands in WA.

Yep. I reckon a two-hourly service stopping at Gnowangerup (pop ~600) makes sense.

Maybe post project the plan is to turn 600 into 6000?

If the aim is to grow the population of regional centres, and since COVID there seems to be a trend for people to spread out away from major centres, this might be a beneficial adjunct. The biggest challenge to major regional growth is to provide enough water to sustain the expanding population.

Yep. I reckon a two-hourly service stopping at Gnowangerup (pop ~600) makes sense.

A joint like that deserves at least a service every hour - more in the peak. Are we electrifying?

The Victorian experience demonstrates that “fast rail” (in reality, less slow, with huge increases in service frequency) resulted in several State seats going from essentially conservative to left wing parties. Would the politics be more important in WA than the finances?

Assuming reality sets in, could I become the evening shift Yard Master at Mundrabilla?

Yes hbedriver there is a vacancy for an experienced man such as yourself but you would need to:

• Start on night shift
• Be qualified in the hydrogen powered remotely operated (thank goodness) W class yard pilot
• Learn the complex Yard which consists of a main line, a crossing loop and a dead end spur siding with an end loading ramp.

The work load is so onerous that I haven't been on site since 1997 or 1998.
There is no accommodation as ARTC sold it for scrap.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

Assuming reality sets in, could I become the evening shift Yard Master at Mundrabilla?

Yes hbedriver there is a vacancy for an experienced man such as yourself but you would need to:

• Start on night shift
• Be qualified in the hydrogen powered remotely operated (thank goodness) W class yard pilot
• Learn the complex Yard which consists of a main line, a crossing loop and a dead end spur siding with an end loading ramp.

The work load is so onerous that I haven't been on site since 1997 or 1998.
There is no accommodation as ARTC sold it for scrap.

Initially I thought that's taking 'work from home' a bit far, but if they can drive Pilbara ore trains from Perth, surely one can shunt Mundrabilla from one's armchair in Melbourne.

BTW YM-M, If there's a vacancy for nights, whose currently on Afternoon shift?

And why not?

Bid for fast trains linking regional WA with Perth

Perth - Bunbury is probably feasible, and maybe on to Busselton or Margaret River, but beyond that, probably not.
As for Geraldton and Esperance ... .

And why not?

Bid for fast trains linking regional WA with Perth

Perth - Bunbury is probably feasible, and maybe on to Busselton or Margaret River, but beyond that, probably not.
As for Geraldton and Esperance ... .

I believe all investment into rail in australia is good.

And why not?

Bid for fast trains linking regional WA with Perth

Perth - Bunbury is probably feasible, and maybe on to Busselton or Margaret River, but beyond that, probably not.
As for Geraldton and Esperance ... .

I believe all investment into rail in australia is good.

So you would bet your fortune on it? How much investment in rail do you have, other than Railpage?

And why not?

Bid for fast trains linking regional WA with Perth

Perth - Bunbury is probably feasible, and maybe on to Busselton or Margaret River, but beyond that, probably not.
As for Geraldton and Esperance ... .

I believe all investment into rail in australia is good.

So you would bet your fortune on it? How much investment in rail do you have, other than Railpage?

And that there lies the problem.

Assuming reality sets in, could I become the evening shift Yard Master at Mundrabilla?

Yes hbedriver there is a vacancy for an experienced man such as yourself but you would need to:

• Start on night shift
• Be qualified in the hydrogen powered remotely operated (thank goodness) W class yard pilot
• Learn the complex Yard which consists of a main line, a crossing loop and a dead end spur siding with an end loading ramp.

The work load is so onerous that I haven't been on site since 1997 or 1998.
There is no accommodation as ARTC sold it for scrap.

Initially I thought that's taking 'work from home' a bit far, but if they can drive Pilbara ore trains from Perth, surely one can shunt Mundrabilla from one's armchair in Melbourne.

BTW YM-M, If there's a vacancy for nights, whose currently on Afternoon shift?

Maybe OK to drive Pilbara ore trains from Perth but those of us of little faith still wonder when one cannot control a Tasmanian cement train whilst standing alongside it.
The YMs does afternoons. She is ex CR as well.
We could do with a good Roadmaster as the former Camp Train/end loading spur is still timber. Best WA Jarrah and Wandoo, of course. None of this current 'green red gum' or plastic stuff.
I seem to have successfully derailed this thread all wheels!

And why not?

Bid for fast trains linking regional WA with Perth

Perth - Bunbury is probably feasible, and maybe on to Busselton or Margaret River, but beyond that, probably not.
As for Geraldton and Esperance ... .

I believe all investment into rail in australia is good.

From here on forward I shall daily give thanks that you are not in charge of the public purse then.......

Is ere an election due? This gets trotted out periodically. I can save the WA gummint some money by reminding them this was studied in a fair amount of detail about 20 years ago. AMcT was the driver of the project but had little intention of carrying it through and the report is lost in the archives if it still exists. It looked at returning services to Busselton, Margaret River and Pemberton. Out of these the only one worth thinking about is Busselton, possibly extending to Dunsborough. The trackbed was still extant part way and the corridor wa preserved to Busselton, even the old station had been moved to the right spot. The corridor through Busselton has been lost but the by-pass has potential and meets the old corridor heading towards Dunsborough. The Minister wanted to keep the stops and do the trip in an hour, a challenge for a Harrier JumpJet, obviously a number of stations would have to go and a flagship express would be necessary. Another option was to run along the Mandurah line but turn off and bypass Mandurah at Lakelands either running express along the highway corridor or using the road corridor to Pinjarra. It was also suggested that the line used the port route and extended back to the original station.
As a former user of the line, they stopped having a connection between the Australind and buses beyond which stopped me using the service, I took the train to Mandurah and caught the SW Coach so Westrail missed out. The Westrail bus had a long meal stop not far from Mandurah.

The line from Perth to Kalgoorlie is about 600kms. What would be required to run a 200kph diesel service along this line? Is the existing line capable of handling trains running at 200kph speeds?

The logic is that a 200kph service should yield a Perth Kalgoorlie express time of less than 4 hours which would make the train competitive with air travel once driving to the airport, check in time, etc is taken into account.

The line from Perth to Kalgoorlie is about 600kms. What would be required to run a 200kph diesel service along this line? Is the existing line capable of handling trains running at 200kph speeds?

The logic is that a 200kph service should yield a Perth Kalgoorlie express time of less than 4 hours which would make the train competitive with air travel once driving to the airport, check in time, etc is taken into account.

Currently 6'50" at max speed 160km/h, average speed is only a little more than half that.

The factors limiting the average speed will have an even greater effect with a 200km/h max speed.
By my rough reckoning, increasing max speed to 200km/h might knock off an hour.

The line from Perth to Kalgoorlie is about 600kms. What would be required to run a 200kph diesel service along this line? Is the existing line capable of handling trains running at 200kph speeds?

The logic is that a 200kph service should yield a Perth Kalgoorlie express time of less than 4 hours which would make the train competitive with air travel once driving to the airport, check in time, etc is taken into account.

This was also studied in the noughties and the 200 kph was assumed. There are a couple of main issues, one id the number of level crossings which limited the amount of route you could sustain 200 k/h, the other was the number of freight trains, especially on Sundays and 200 k/h running would have stuffed up all the crosses. The trains were designed for 200 but in reality the system only worked for 160 so the new trains were geared appropriately.