Union demands government action

The Rail, Tram and Bus union has demanded that heavy and dangerous goods, like petrol, not be transported by truck after these two accidents in NSW.

What doesn't seem to fit into this plan is that the state governments have been shutting down and ripping up the railways for years. So many rail lines have been abandoned and ripped up because they were unviable (this was decided on many branch lines when stats were given for the line from the branches' head rather than for the branch).

More about the Rail, Tram and Bus union demand here.

The first comments are interesting with many people agreeing and demanding that the trucks be taken off the roads or are taxed out of existance to make them unviable. They don't realise that the rail doesn't go everywhere and quite often in transporting goods it is much cheaper to load onto a truck and move it from A to B rather than the current necessity using rail to use truck, rail and truck again, which increases transport costs because of the multiple load/unloads (particularly with cattle for example). Who do they think will have to pay for these increased costs of fuel transport? They're not thinking, are they?

One sensible person said:

The majority of accidents involving trucks and cars are the fault of the car driver. This has been proven in many studies of car / truck accidents.

During holidays we have tired drivers, out of their normal environment, distracted and dangerous. But, at the end of the day that's a risk we are more prepared to blame Truckies rather than use the facts.

Interesting that this call has come out before the fault of these latest accidents is even established.

I haven't had a chance to read all the comments. Apparently these days road transport is less expensive than rail transport.

And of course, the Rail, Tram and Bus union wouldn't have a vested interest in the transport of goods being moved from raod to rail.