Rail users in New South Wales have just learned that train fares will increase by 5.9% from November 11. This follows an enquiry by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal ( IPRT ), a lap dog with no teeth that has never been known to knock back a government demand for a price increase - despite that increase far exceeding inflation.
The rail system in New South Wales is something of a joke. A crumbling mess of an outdated signalling system, trains that lack onboard toilets and a timetable that has reverted to the time when steam trains hauled carriages it has become an ongoing disaster for the state government.
Commuters well remember the much heralded salvation - the Millennium train. This state of the art train was supposed to be in place for the 2000 Olympics. It arrived years late - and with huge cost over runs - and it didn't work !
It was so full of whiz-bang technology that it was incompatible with the surrounding infrastructure - and had to be " dumbed down " to integrate.
The government took an axe to the system and discontinued hundreds of rail services. As a result, commuters and travellers who used off-peak travel were forced onto peak trains, further exacerbating chronic overcrowding. Basically, the rail system degenerated into the morning and evening peak with off-peak and weekend services slashed to the bone.
Rail users found they were experiencing employer block because the rail system simply could not deliver on time running - so the movers and shakers came up with a solution. Simply adjust the timetables backwards fifty years so the journeys took longer - and hence there was more chance that the trains would adhere to the schedule.
Since then government spin has concentrated on one thing - arrival times. From abysmal figures there have been improvements into the high ninety percents and these have been the subject of the government propaganda machine - to the exclusion of overcrowding, trains missing stations to remain on schedule and inter-city travel on trains lacking toilets.
Now we have a price rise because - and many shake their head in disbelief - the government claims it has earned a reward for improved service. A weekly ticket from Wollongong to Central in Sydney will rise by $ 3 to $ 54.
The most likely outcome will be more commuters travelling by car - particularly so when most people travelling to jobs in other parts of Sydney have to undertake a second rail journey from Central to connect with their employer. The car looks a better solution when two or more people share the ride.
It should be remembered that the Italian dictator - Mussolini - made a famous statement on his life achievement just before he was executed by the partisans.
He said - " At least I made the trains run on time ! "
Many might wish that those running our rail system suffer a similar fate !
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