Fast rail detail, please
The recent Liberal Coalition plan and proposal to spend some $19 billion on providing “high speed European” trains for regional Victoria needs some clarification and details.
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Is this just another thought-bubble from a desperate opposition to use the public transport as an election issue? There are no costings, nor any indication who and where these new 30,000 employees are to be situated. Whether these high-seed trains will have their own designated lines away from suburban traffic. This information is vital to commuters and voters in regional Victoria.
It is an interesting figure that 30,000 jobs quoted in the media. At the height of the rail system in Victoria with all its associated branches and staff in 1960 the employees numbered 30,000. Before the razor-gang got stuck in.
There is no doubt that a time of 70 minutes from Bendigo to Melbourne is achievable with a fast-train network. But a lot of work will have to be done to improve the situation of safety and security of the line. We cannot run trains now due to hot weather and vandals. But I look forward to seeing more detail and vital information from those who have raised this proposal.
Bill Collier, Golden Square
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Science triumphs
Against all the unrelenting, irrational and ill-founded criticism by political sceptics, South Australia has become the most progressive State in addressing electricity emission reductions with Port Augusta poised to be the “renewable energy capital of Australia”.
Sceptics defended their support of more coal-fired powered stations with the shallow statement “when the sun doesn’t shine, and the wind doesn’t blow, the power doesn’t flow”, but now we see the science of renewable technology rise to the forefront exposing the sceptics as “flat-earth” thinkers unable to comprehend the negative future impact of man-made global warming.
Ambitious emission targets set by South Australia and Victoria have now been well vindicated as they surge forward with new renewable power technology leaving coal as a fuel source dead and buried.
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For Port Augusta, 13 renewable energy projects are underway ranging from wind farms and pumped-hydro using sea-water, to solar with storage that allows the sun’s energy to feed peak demand.
Whilst the Bungala solar farm in Port Augusta uses photovoltaic technology with panels that track the sun for maximum efficiency, the nearby Aurora project uses more than 10,000 movable mirrors (heliostats) algorithmically programmed to track the sun directing the heat to a receiver of molten salt for storage overnight, which in-turn is used to create steam to drive conventional electricity-generating turbines. This is one form of solar storage; another of course is the Tesla batteries which provides demand energy security at a response rate that is faster than any previous conventional generator, and with more accuracy.
So defying all the ill-informed utterances of many politicians and sceptics, South Australia has forged a modern progressive path for our future energy security and provided a beacon of light focussed on a morally sustainable future by embracing the challenge of ambitious yet achievable emission targets.
Ian Cooper, California Gully
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