Moondoong, it only takes a trip to somewhere like Singapore, France or Japan to learn just how poor the quality of our trains and tracks really is. We have to tackle the root cause of the problem and not just blame the messengers.
As a young country lad in the early 1960s, I used to travel alone on Victoria's regional trains and Melbourne's red rattlers. The service seemed safer, faster and more reliable than it is today - my last trip by train from Melbourne to Wodonga took almost 5 hours [300 kms].
It seems that every year at this time tracks buckle, trains break down and services are cancelled at short notice. Our pollies collectively, both federal and state, are to blame for the ramshackle state of our public transport systems and as increasing patronage demonstrates; the public expects much better!
