The truck network is privately owned and the big company owners are huge political donors. They will always oppose rail. We have road trains going through town day and night and the roads are getting years of wear in months. Privatise the profits. Socialise the costs.
There are huge bypasses and highway upgrades not far away costing millions and none of the road trains use them. They are tearing up the B roads because it’s the only route they are allowed on. It’s crazy.
The rail here was never fit for purpose. Installed a century ago and conditions were so bad it moved at a crawl. It could not compete with the massive public funding that goes into roads.
Anyway I suspect long haul trucks will win out for the medium term at least. Not because it’s the best solution, but because it can be rolled out more quickly. I do hope we pursue rail for the long term good though, and not just for freight but for people moving, particularly as jet fuel takes up a greater proportion of our emissions.
@vividspecter@dgriffith am hoping the same. Problem is a lot of the lines were privatised and now in a state of disrepair especially in WA. Fix them, add a passenger car to every train heading into the country and there you go.
The other parts are fixing up our rail networks for long distance freight transport, and general electricification of heavy industry.
Biggest downside is we’d have to go change out all those “without trucks Australia stops” slogans with something new.
The truck network is privately owned and the big company owners are huge political donors. They will always oppose rail. We have road trains going through town day and night and the roads are getting years of wear in months. Privatise the profits. Socialise the costs.
There are huge bypasses and highway upgrades not far away costing millions and none of the road trains use them. They are tearing up the B roads because it’s the only route they are allowed on. It’s crazy.
The rail here was never fit for purpose. Installed a century ago and conditions were so bad it moved at a crawl. It could not compete with the massive public funding that goes into roads.
“Without rail, Australia will fail”?
Anyway I suspect long haul trucks will win out for the medium term at least. Not because it’s the best solution, but because it can be rolled out more quickly. I do hope we pursue rail for the long term good though, and not just for freight but for people moving, particularly as jet fuel takes up a greater proportion of our emissions.
@vividspecter @dgriffith am hoping the same. Problem is a lot of the lines were privatised and now in a state of disrepair especially in WA. Fix them, add a passenger car to every train heading into the country and there you go.
How about new stickers t:
oops, we got it wrong. Australia big. We’re not full, I was just being racist.
Or is that a step too far?