There’s nothing new under the sun – the $2.5 billion high-speed rail service on the main southern line between Sydney, Goulburn and Canberra was touted back in the 1990s.
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It’s again on the books after deputy premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro announced the government would pump part of its share of the sale of the Snowy scheme money into improving rail safety and speed by upgrading existing regional rail lines, but headlined a new corridor for a ‘very fast train’ between Canberra and Sydney.
Of more interest to us, he also said the present Sydney-to-Dubbo XPT time could be cut by 25 per cent with new trains and track realignment.
The XPT now takes six hours 20 minutes for the trip and this would be reduced by 1.61 hours to 4.84 hours, a time difficult to do in a fast car, and pretty well pie in the sky.
The XPT now takes six hours 20 minutes for the trip and this would be reduced by 1.61 hours to 4.84 hours, a time difficult to do in a fast car, and pretty well pie in the sky.
But that aside, back in the 1990s Dale Budd, chief executive of a company called Speedrail, said he had a joint venture agreement with a subsidiary of a French company that made Trains a Grande Vitesse, known as TGVs, for a Sydney-Canberra high-speed service.
He said the 300km/h trains could be up and running by 1999 on mostly upgraded existing tracks and would reach Goulburn in 50 minutes, stopping only at Mascot Airport, Campbelltown and Moss Vale. Canberra would be another 25 minutes away.
But the project had its detractors and never got off the ground.
One offbeat objection was from the then mayor of Goulburn-based Mulwaree Shire Paul Stephenson who warned a fast train would frighten sheep and cattle.
He said he could have a mob rounded up and ready to go through a gate and then if a train hurtled by at 350km/h, they’d take off so fast he wouldn’t see them again.
Orange Rail Action Group for several years has tried to convince the government to bring the Bathurst Bullet on to Orange, start the XPT from Dubbo and realign part of the line between Orange and Lithgow to speed up train travel, but all pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
At least Mr Barilaro has now recognised the need to straighten the tracks and might announce something more concrete before next year’s NSW elections.
CROQUET: A MISUNDERSTOOD AND UNDER-RATED SPORT
CROQUET is a misunderstood sport that conjures up images of elderly women dressed in crinolines at 19th century garden parties.
Many remember it as the game played by the Queen and Alice in Wonderland, with flamingoes as the mallets and hedgehogs as the balls.
But these perceptions have nothing to do with the game, which as a pastime rates on an even par with sports like boxing and rowing.
Considered to be a combination of chess and snooker and the putting skills of golf, the ancient game is played regularly in Orange at Jaeger Reserve on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and on Wednesday evenings during daylight saving.
New croquet players are always welcome and their first six games are free.
The only equipment required by new players is soft-soled footwear. The club has a stock of mallets for new players to use.
Introductory days are held during the year. So there’s a lot more to this ‘thought sport’ than meets the eye, and the club deserves a much higher profile in the run of things in the Orange community.
Maybe if they grew some grapes …
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