Following Trans Australia Railway

That's my understanding too. Huge fines if you travel on 'their' section. We had heard that stranded travellers were stopping the train to get help and that helped lead to the closure. Of course that may well be an urban legend.

Di

Brilliant, thanks Mick. I'll go through that tonight. I must have looked at 'Trans Access Road' on the map 20 times and not bothered to search for that! Doh.

Michelle, do you mind me asking what the source is for that information. I have had conflicting reports and Inofrmation seems to be going around in circles. The main places on the internet that I can find saying that iit is closed are forum posts on Exploroz that all seem to be referring to each other.

It's been closed in these sections for at least 10 years now. I personally received a call from the Director of the Australian National Railways at the time regarding the issue of travellers using their service tracks as did the print mapping publishers. There is no doubt the track is a no-go zone in the section between Rawlinna and Googs Track, and will remain that way indefinitely. The service track is privately owned and they have cited issues with public liability insurance etc and interruptions to the freight train schedules caused by stranded travellers etc. They don't want the duty of care, so its easier to say no, not ever, not anyone, I guess.

MM

Thanks Michelle.

I suspect you better update or remove the comments from travellers. In particular 2 entries from Admin, who I guess is David or yourself.

26 Oct 2008 System Admin
Traveled the track may this year Tarcoola to Forrest, Very good track (road) on the SA side. But after Ooldea (turn off to Maralinga) the track becomes a track. again no signs telling that the road (track) is closed.
25 Nov 2007 System Admin
Traveled from Rawlinna to the WA - SA border Sep of this year, the track about ten of them is slow rocky most of the way some sandy section which where nice to drive on. no signs telling that the road (track) is closed.

Hi Michelle,

How does one tell people in this country ?
ALL RAILWAY ACCESS ROADS ARE PRIVATE PROPEERTY !

As an ex Railway worker my advise to all is "DON'T go on their roads", you could possibly be fined for trespass, you will get no assistance from them although the workers may sound good about you being there, deep down they don't give a S..t., they say it's ok to keep peace with you.

I will ask, how would you like people driving their vehicles, leaving rubbish and human remains on your property ?

Had another 2 bobs worth on this subject and this site again.
The real and honest answer is NO KEEP OFF !

Cheers P&J

BooBook,

We will have a look at those reports. SystemAdmin is the default the system assigns after someone removes their profile so there is no actual link to the user. Thus these updates have been done by people that have recorded the info and then removed themselves from the system.

David

Ok David that makes sense. It just looks like it was one of you guys making the report. Cheers

Oh thanks for your friendly and paternal commentary too P&J...

ARTC - Australian Rail Track Corporation
Head Office - Adelaide
See - www.artc.com.au/Content.aspx?p=14
And no need to put it as 'owns' as they do indeed legally own it. It is not public land.
Cheers
Andrew

Hullo Alastair

Just one point of clarification. It was not sold off. The following is quote from their website.

"The Australian Rail Track Corporation Ltd (ARTC) was created after the Commonwealth and State Governments agreed in 1997 to the formation of a 'one stop' shop for all operators seeking access to the National interstate rail network.

It is a company under the Corporations Act whose shares are owned by the Commonwealth of Australia, which is represented by the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, and the Minister for Finance and Deregulation."

Although the Fed Govt at the time floted the idea of selling it to the private secor, this was vigorously opposed by many of the States who didn't want to see a private monopoly created.

Cheers
Andrew

Andrew,
I stand corrected and appreciate you doing so.

It is easy to see how urban myths ermerge. I was quite sure the ARTC was the result of a sale. One example where Federation and hence the states ostensibly served the country well.

I do think however it (ARTC) should be more proactive as it seems to me that Australia is a classic example where a well run, integrated rail network should be able to move freight economically in comparison to the huge numbers of long distance trucks.

Perhaps a fully privatised company would have better access to funds and hence better able to exploit their position !

cheers

Hullo Alastair

The problem with private sector ownership would be that, given the distances and relatively low traffics, it would almost certainly be a monopoly. That is, there is simply not enough demand for another (private) company to duplicate the track (as in the USA, for example) and compete re price/service.

Thus a vertically intregated transport company with sea, air, rail and road services (there are some, eg, Toll) and that owned the rail network would offer services on rail in a way that maximised their profit, rather than the public good.

It would be akin to privatising the Eyre Hwy! :-)

I think you might be surprised at the level of investment by ARTC, far greater than the capital investment by State Rail systems over the past decades of neglect, starved by their respective State Treasuries.

BTW, no rural road, including the main highways, recoups their capital and maintenance costs through user charges.

Cheers
Andrew

No different to being 'locked out' of aboriginal land!

Gday Shaker,
Yep, except most aboriginal land I visit I am not locked out of - just apply for a permit and I can visit.
Maybe you meant being "locked out" of pastoral lease land or national parks?

Member - Phil G (SA) replied:
[SNIP]...
All because the operators are worried that the rare tourist will want to pull up a train, but I'd suggest the operators are simply more interested in running a business and the easy answer is "NO".

Too right Phil. In fact a phone call to ARTC confirmed this. Basically the guy, who shall remain nameless said that they will never give permission because that transfers the liability from you to to them. However the drivers see people and 4wd's along the tracks every day ( not just the section in question) and usually give a toot and a wave.
I asked about big fines and tourists holding up trains in this section and he laughed. He said he has been there 25 years and never heard of it happening. He also said someone might turn up to check you out if you had 6 bearded guys wearing bed sheets and holding rifles in the back of an old Hilux ute. LOL I asked about the signs saying not to enter and with a laugh he said that applies to all rail side track, but it scared me off so it must be working.

Just don't interfere with the trains or operations, keep 10m from the track and be sensible was the message I got.

Nice guy.

Like so many things in Australia's over governed life, it is better to seek forgiveness than approval.

Boobook,

I think there is a misunderstanding on your side re "holding up the trains" what the subscribers above are referring to is where the train drivers stop their trains because some people wave their arms around in stupid fashion which has caused the train crew to stop because they assume the people are in some sort of trouble. I can vouch to that, and so would Train Controllers because of lost running time to the schedule.

They are not holding trains up (as per criminal offence) except in the cases where they are close to the track with their vehicle, they are not hijacking or robbing it.

Re the ARTC Employee telling you people have not been fined is a joke and he would not be allowed to say "YES". Ask him why Train Drivers have had to attend a Departmental Inquiry to give evidence that people have been reported for trespass. I know this is correct because I had to attend twice to give evidence when I was a Locomotive driver for 23 years in South Australia.

Cheers P&J

P&J I may not have expressed it right but my conversation wasn't about armed hold ups etc, it was about stopping trains.

I dunno anything other than the above, but I suspect this thread like many others on this site suffers from the "Exploroz self imposed Police force" syndrome.

I would not advise that anyone on this site goes on this track or even crosses a road when it says don't walk. I respect your and others' opinions on this matter and have determined a plan for myself.