ADELAIDE LOOKS TOWARDS PRIVATISATION

[Heardy_101]

ADELAIDE LOOKS TOWARDS PRIVATISATION

The Advertiser

David Nankervis

ADELAIDE’S suburban rail network could be privatised within 2 years, thanks to Federal treasurer Joe Hockey’s push to the States to sell off public assets in return for crucial infrastructure funding.

This is despite newly appointed State treasurer Tom Koutsantonis and re-elected Premier Jay Weatherill assuring that State assets will not be sold off and privatised. However while SA Water “definitely” won’t be sold off, the new Government is believed to be exploring the possibility of privatising the Metro suburban railways.

Non-metropolitan lines were sold off in 1975 when the Australian National Railways took over the State’s country passenger and freight lines, while the Metro passenger services remained under semi-Government control until TransAdelaide were abolished.

“We have said many times State assets won’t be sold off,” Mr. Koutsantonis said. “However we are currently exploring options where the Adelaide metro railway lines would be partly privatised. However any deal we do must ensure they are run correctly and that the Government must still maintain some sort of control, so it wouldn’t be a complete privatisation.”

Opposition transport spokeswoman Vicki Chapman said it is a disgrace that the “illegitimate” Government would even consider selling off any assets despite saying they would not.

“How dare they even consider selling off any assets, whether it is rail or SA Water, when they have clearly said they would not,” Ms. Chapman said. “They have said no State assets would be sold off, yet it appears they will do it anyway. The people do not vote for this to happen under any Government, especially one that has been elected illegitimately.”

Opposition leader Steven Marshall was also critical, saying he believed the Government should ask the public before proceeding with sales of any assets.

“This shows that the Labor Government is still the same arrogant and ignorant Labor Government that it was under Mike Rann, Mr. Marshall said. “They need to either ask the public what they think, as any decent and legitimate Government would, or call another election and let them decide.”

New Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan said before any sale or proposal goes forward, the Government and DPTI will explore and look at all options before proceeding to the next step.

“All options will be considered first and foremost,” Mr. Mullighan said. “We will look at Melbourne to see how well they are managing and running their Metro railways which are privately run and operated. It is a model we have looked at in the past, and we will look at it again before making any decision.”

Melbourne’s Subruban railway lines are currently privatised and are run by a Consortium under the name of Metro Trains Melbourne. International company Connex ran the network up until several years ago.

Both companies will be looked at, as well as local freight operator Genesee & Wyoming Australia (GWA) which currently runs the Penrice freight train as well as grain trains across the State, the Premier has said.

“All options, companies, ideas, proposals, all of them will be looked into carefully before any decision is made,” Mr. Weatherill said. “If this does go ahead we must make sure jobs are first and foremost secure.”

He said further information as well as new proposals will be released later in the year.

[HomerSimpson]

Didn't you try a lame April fools article last year ? You should post something under a pen name like "David von Peters"... That would be funnier

[Heardy_101]

I did however it was in a different format.

And David von Peters is a real person so it wouldn't be that much funnier. And plus he posts as "uniorg", so impersonation another user wouldn't be right. Nice try though, although it wasn't necessary as it was irrelevant.

[marc506]

Given the Labor government is hanging on by a thread and if Bob Such isn't able to take his seat and there's a by-election, the state will wind up with a Liberal government and then it won't be so much of joke.

[Heardy_101]

Actually you make a good point there. Many people forget that if Bob doesn't return and there is a by-election, there is a strong chance that Fisher will end up in Liberal hands resulting in another hung Parliament, meaning either Geoff Brock would have to side with the Liberals to seek the so-called stability he desires, or another election, where the Liberals would probably win outright.

[1whoknows]

Let's hope so anyway.

[bigrobbo]

If the story is true or not is kind of irrelevant.

Does not matter who is in power, the incentive to sell off public assets will prove too tempting.

And a Liberal State Government will more than likely tow the Federal Party line.

[Heardy_101]

Labor has said they won't. Given they have refused to give in to Tony's crap in the past I don't thibk they will now, but you're right, once the State Liberals do get in (let's face it, it is inevitable), then kiss goodbye SA Water and hello to higher water prices. The Metro railways might go the way of Melbourne's or worse.

[Lt. Commander Data]

I love a good april fools joke. A guy i know made himself look like he had been beaten up, and it was so convincing i fell for it. I saw him again today and he was fine!

[Heardy_101]

One of my mates full on fell for it, he rang me and said we needed to start writing letters to the papers and to the Governments, before I told him what the date was. LOL

[mubd]

Congratulations, this post is now famous

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-09/ ... e/11586356

The quotes — which were fabricated — state the former Labor government was considering a partial privatisation of rail services.

"We are currently exploring options where the Adelaide metro [sic] railway lines would be partly privatised," Mr Koutsantonis is purported to have said.

They appear to have originated in a fake newspaper article posted on April Fools' Day on two public transport online discussion forums "Wheels On Steel" and "Bus Australia".

[Heardy_101]

I don't know how to feel about this. Kinda sad, kinda funny that I half predicted something like this. I also made the same post on Wheels On Steel - Palpatine is/was my username on there.

[Merc1107]

Never underestimate the ability of a foolish person to believe whatever they read on the internet. It's very concerning an individual who liaises with Government could be deceived by something as innocuous as an April Fool's Day joke; but when you're on a fishing expedition for information to corroborate your point of view, I guess nothing is below the belt.

[Heardy_101]

Exactly and that's the saddest part. Desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose!

[Eurostar]

As we know the Glenelg tram is popular there is no reason why if Torrens got to run the trams they could play the game by Running routes like 241, 248, W90, W91 as feeders to the tram. Saving their bus kilometres, reduce late running, more validations

[TA3001]

You might as well do the same with all South Rd services. I'm sure the trams which are already sardine cans even at quieter times would cope with the loading, not.

It's even better if there's a tram substitute service running, or at times, no scheduled connection like what is the case with a few feeders such as a couple of 252A services.

What if the bus leaves due to the connecting tram running late? Sure, the passengers will just stand around the the pouring rain for 25 minutes to an hour, whilst an unruly passenger carries on with their antics.

Realistically, you have a genuine white elephant at your fingertips.

[TA3001]

Er, this concept of turning the current Anzac Hwy services into feeders, along with potentially making the services hourly during the day.

Reread the post in response to Eurostar's post.

[Eurostar]

Of course you keep the the peak 241s and 248s but during interpeak you run them as feeders or could merge the two into a loop either Not in Service between Plympton and Beckman Street or as official loop.

[The Phonj]

As it stands, Anzac Hwy is a high density (for Australian standards) corridor, which might have problems if existing capacity was removed. There are also genuine travel needs of the people on Anzac Hwy to travel South of the tram line and v.v.; using the already established routes. If a passenger wishes to change to a tram for travel to the City (or another location on the tram line) they already have that option. The reality is that travel time by bus is normally comparable to that of the tram. I have observed this myself; having departed Glenelg at the same time as a tram and seeing the exact same tram in Victoria Sq. Passengers don't like unnecessarily changing vehicles; so why inconvenience those passengers?

Another thing to look at is how would an arriving 241 (for example) turn around to commence its journey back to Marion. A U-turn on Anzac Hwy is not reeally feasible for a bus. Continuing with the 241 example; which does not use Anzac Hwy, what do you propose will service the section of the 241 between the City and Beckman St?

Another thing that has already been mentioned is the capacity on tram services. Disgorging a bus load of passengers unnecessarily to force them to board an already busy tram is not going to encourage patronage, but discourage it, for negligible benefit.

[TA3001]

Of course you keep the the peak 241s and 248s but during interpeak you run them as feeders or could merge the two into a loop either Not in Service between Plympton and Beckman Street or as official loop.

I think the bottom line here is that if it was practical, wouldn't this change have been implemented by now?