Waratah off the rails !!!

[The_Ghan]

" THE troubled new Waratah trains will not undergo certain safety tests as part of a deal to bail out the struggling company which built them.

State taxpayers will also have to pay $40 million upfront payment and the government will be a guarantor for the company to finally get the Waratahs into service."

Read the full story here.

I know I upset the few forum members here who work for various Australian railways every time I start to rant and I'm sorry for that.  I do get that you are proud of what you do and I do think you do a good job.  I also hope that you're trying to change the system from the ground up rather than taking the "not my problem, not my job" approach.  So, rant on I shall:

Why? Why? Why are we still trying to design and build trains in this country when the UK, the USA, Europe and Japan do it so well?  Seriously!  Why all the mucking around, politics, designing, reinventing the wheel, stuffing it up, continuing on regardless, stuffing it up again, building it anyway ... and so on?  Why couldn't we just get Seimens, Mitsubishi or someone to do it right?

Notice the gawky yellow on the trains?  Wouldn't it look better in sky blue, lime green or vermillion?  Bugger me, even pink would look better!!!

The experts here will probably argue that I just don't get it .... and I probably won't!  I can't see any reason to award contracts to under-achievers who fail to deliver on time and ultimately need to be bailed out using taxpayer funds.  This is no Liberal Party political blunder.  It's an ALP project and I'm reminded of this article last August.  But I'm not going to blame politicians at all.  I think this is a case of big business rorting the system. 

Why couldn't these trains have been tested before leaving China?

Alan Cameron, Peter Jollie and the other directors over at UnReliable Rail need their heads banged together.

Cheers

The_Ghan

[keitaro]

I agree fail.

Should have been completely built here in the first place at least then the excess money we have paid multiple times would have stayed in australia and not china.

Again i really think we should start buying our trains from japan or atleast purchase a proven design then get them to build it in australia under supervision for political reasons.

[The_Ghan]

I don't think building here is the answer, unless it is a government project and not a PPP (Public Private Partnership).  Government contracts are being awarded for all sorts of things and the funds are being squandered.  I can assure you of this.  I recently tendered $800k to do some city planning work in Indonesia.  The firm that beat me was more than 8 times the price.  Yes ... nearly 9 times the price.

The world economy is going to hell in a hay basket and it is because of corporate and political corruption.  Sydney City Council spent $64m on 14km of bicycle lanes.  They are 2.1m wide.  That is over $2300 per square metre, or over $230 per square foot ... all they did was paint the road !!!  WTF !!!

We simply shouldn't embark on such projects.  It is better to purchase a shelf product.  Can you imagine the fiasco if we decided to proceed with HSR?  I shudder!

The Russians have just announced that they are going to build another 96km of metro over the next 9 years.  It is a reasonable proposition that in ten years time it will all be done and another 44 railway stations will have been added to the system.  Bach in Ga-ga land (Sydney) we'll probably announce and shelf 3 or 4 projects in the same period but not really accomplish anything.

Cheers

The_Ghan

[bikkuri bahn]

Putting aside the good/bad of supporting home industries, one issue in Australia is whether the domestic market is big enough to support the continued viability of a railcar builder.  Would they also look to market their products abroad? In Japan the builders are looking more and more to foreign markets as the domestic market is shrinking.

[disturbman]

Just in case, this is not an "australian" railcar builder but more of an "australian" design if that means anything...

The trains have been designed and manufactured under a contract Reliance Rail has with the joint venture between DEDIR and Hitachi.

[...]

CRC - body shell and partial fit out
Thales Australia - communications and surveillance
EKE Electronics - Train Information Systems
Sigma Coachair group - climate control
Hitachi - traction
Knorr Bremse - brakes and doors
Voith Turbo - couplers
Hubner - inter-car gangways
Miryung / BNG - stainless steel
Sydac - simulators

Also, it's not quite uncommon to have faulty train sets at first. The MF01, an Alstom/Bombardier joint product was delayed many years because of industrialisation problems and the first sets delivered were faulty. Now they are, if I'm not mistaken, as reliable as their older-counterparts.

[Mudkip Orange]

Yeah what is this about US railcar builders? Bombardier is Canadians, Siemens is ze Germans, Kawasaki is Kawasaki... even if final assembly is in Barre or Sacto or Yonkers.

We do freight well (Bethgons FTW) but the passenger ship has sailed...

[bikkuri bahn]

Also, it's not quite uncommon to have faulty train sets at first.

Yes, that's a good point.  The Kawasaki railcars for Metro-North had some delays and teething problems, I think partly due to the complexity of the multi-voltage/multi type collection system and signaling.