Oh I know Tait!.
For the cost though, IDK if we’re better off just replacing the Westlander and Inlander with coach service or proceeding with fleet replacement.
Imma start a petition to expand the 50c fares to Traveltrain.
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I can’t speak to the Inlander, but I think there is untapped tourism potential in the Westy belt through Roma and Charleville and surrounding regions. The current configuration built on scraps of the L series stock not used on Spirit of the Outback is a disservice to the region, an expensive ‘do nothing’ approach, lacking the political will to either put up (a worthwhile service that could at least try to attract tourism) or pull out (and replace with a bus).
Considering the enormous per-passenger subsidy on the service, the status quo seems to be kind of a ‘worst of both worlds’ - slow and uncomfortable (especially overnight), but also hugely costly.
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Dual mode locomotives are a thing, see the British Class 99 or the meter gauge FGC 257 series
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Long-distance passenger rail business case
Overdue …
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I just wish they make some decisions. The long distance passenger rail business case has been going on for years now, funded October 2020.
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Part of me suspects they are hoping people will forget about the whole idea. I recall a question on notice from a few years ago indicating a per-passenger subsidy of ~$4,000 for the Westlander and the Inlander (closer to $2,500 for Spirit of the Outback, see https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tableoffice/questionsanswers/2023/811-2023.pdf) and the idea of continuing to pay such costs is something they’d rather not do.
For 4,000 or so passengers on the Westy and Inlander, that’s annual subsidies in the order of $15 million per service.
Don’t get me wrong, I want these services to survive - but I suspect the pressure from the bean counters on this one is enormous.
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Yet they can rush business cases and construction on roads…
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It seems pretty obvious to me that the way to provide basic subsidised transport is through flights and coaches, and trains could become more like the Indian Pacific and the Ghan and become destination/experience trains. Two train sets could enable once or twice a week on the all of the routes.
I personally hope that long distance rail travel doesn’t become primarily the realm of the elite and wealthy. Sometimes its good to just take a bit of time to switch off, have a cup of tea (or perhaps a gin in the afternoon/evening) and watch the scenery of Australia just roll by in comfort, at a pace you can feel like it’s not just a trip between two places, at a price most people can afford.
Perhaps that is too much to ask in the modern world though.
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Unfortunately rail has become a very expensive way to provide that, particularly when we are all subsidising flights to the same places. I think the best way to maintain public support for rail investment is to focus on the areas where it performs better than anything else, ie moving large numbers of people in big cities, and moving large amounts of freight over substantial distances.
I don’t necessarily think those are it’s only viable purposes… maybe in the Australian context that could be the case.
Australia lacks the population centres over medium distances to support rail at the same scale as many other countries. The tyranny of distance and generally low regional population conspire to create the situation we have before us.
But when we look at those subsidies at the service level rather than the per passenger level, what’s to say $15 million for the Westlander (for example) is than the level of subsidy required for 50c fares? That’s a subsidy too.
Governments levy taxes and there is a societal expectation those funds are used judiciously (whether we achieve that is a very separate discussion); but that doesn’t mean that the return on investment should only be measured in revenue generated. I think there is a societal benefit in retaining and arguably improving long distance rail (perhaps even more so for shorter distance regional services).
We can respectfully disagree on what represents good value in this context, I do understand where you’re coming from. After all, I’m just some old guy from the provinces that likes a good train ride 
I guess I would argue that while the total subsidy for urban passenger rail is higher than for the long distance passenger rail, the number of people benefiting is many many times more. There’s no straightforward answer to this, of course.
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It’s unfortunate that the Westie no longer runs as a mixed train. Not sure if this could ever be done again, as I’m guessing QR no longer has the infrastructure to do so, but a 20 ft container each to Miles, Roma, and Charleville would help offset the cost, and it’s not exactly like Aurizon is offering such a service out west.
There’s also a pesky ‘no compete’ clause for freight from when Aurizon was spun off, so even though they’ve essentially binned almost everything except coal on the western lines, QR is effectively unable to run any freight services out there without Aurizon’s consent.
I recall being told by locals when I visited that stuff that comes by truck now is often broken, whilst that was essentially never the case when they could bring things by train.
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I’m not familiar with the contract, but which idiot allowed a non-complete clause to be enforced when Aurizon fails to provide a service?
I’ve heard similar things.
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We can thank the Bligh government for their astonishing lack of foresight in not seeing that Aurizon would pull everything except coal almost on day 1.
The sale also included random pieces of infrastructure, like Goondiwindi Station, for some reason. There are no coal mines on the South-West line, and until Watco came along there was essentially no traffic for 5-6 years. So the station and freight shed just sits there most of the time, slowly wasting away. At least other stations retained by QR have been put to use by the community (e.g. Stanthorpe, and a new cafe at Wallangarra is opening in a few months… even though the line is truncated to Ballandean).
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I think a DMU long distance variant of the QTMP will get ordered for these routes and maybe even extra railcars for the tilt train as well
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Well I hope you are on the money. I would like to see the services continued.
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