<p>Freight Australia’s "excellent condition" will ensure it is a valuable strategic asset for any successful buyer, the company’s chief executive, Marinus van Onselen, said.</p> <p>"We have it from a loss-making government railroad into a viable private business," Mr van Onselen said. "We believe the asset is in excellent condition."</p> <p>The company has become "leaner, meaner and fitter" during last year’s crippling drought and emerged with prospects of breaking its 2001 turnover record during the next year, he said.</p> <p>Owner RailAmerica has decided to sell its Australian and Chilean assets and concentrate on North America – a decision which Freight Australia’s management fully accepts, he said.</p> <p>Morgan Stanley has been appointed to handle the sale of Freight Australia and interested parties are expected to begin due diligence processes shortly.</p> <p>"I think the first organisation that strikes a bargain with RailAmerica will be successful," Mr van Onselen said.</p> <p>He said he could not comment on any prospective buyers.</p> <p>In the meantime it will business as usual for the company, including dealing with a "bumper grain crop" and ongoing discussions with the Victorian Government over track access issues, he said.</p> <p>Queensland Rail (QR) CEO Bob Scheuber said QR has made "no secret" of its interest in acquiring interstate assets "including Freight Australia".</p> <p>Other interested parties are thought to be the Australian Railroad Group (ARG) and one of Pacific National’s owners, Toll Holdings. </p> <br />
It isn’t the community hopping on the track. It is criminals and if it takes them being killed to learn there lesson then so be it. Yes the drivers and emergency staff can have a hard time after such incidents but if these criminals don’t listen and continue to invade the tracks then what can you do.
Your “criminals” are the community though. It’s not like they’re some other sub set of people. They’re your brother, mate, or colleague who has too many drinks on a Friday arvo and decides to take a shortcut. They’re your teenager out with their mates who’d rather jump off the platform than walk over the footbridge. They’re people!
If they were just off the bus from prison, and violent blunt trauma by 400 tonne object was going to teach anything, and if it wasn’t going to cause psychological damage to everyone who has to deal with the aftermath, it would still cause enormous disruption when the rail corridor becomes a crime scene for hours at a time. Not good.
Maybe so but this is just another step in evolution. Idiots are weeded out from the pack. Nobody I know would even think about crossing rail lines. Even when they may have had one too many to drink. Going by the smell in some of the lifts around Sydney stations it seem highly likely that drunks are actually using these instead of short cutting across the tracks. Most of the issues with track invasion these days is graffiti vandals and they are scum. There doesn’t seem to be a single spot on the Sydney trains network that hasn’t been hit by the scum.