QW: Cost of road mean rail freight required

The cost of road freight and private travel has come to point that railroad transportation and freight needs to be reinstated in this area. To cut down on road infrastructure costs, high living costs involving fuel, registrations and maintenance on vehicles. Rail freight options bring in a cheaper long distance option to industry because rail is a more economical choice for long distance travel so it improves cost savings to the customer and distributors.

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What is the ‘Thucydides trap’ Xi warned Trump about?

David Pritchard from The University of Queensland writes During their high-stakes meeting in Beijing this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly asked US President Donald Trump if the two countries could overcome the “Thucydides trap”. But what is it and why does it matter?

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QW: Finish the Moree bit

Re: Local leaders testify to “human cost” of Inland Rail axing The only part of the Northern Inland Railway that should be completed immediately is the 23 km (?) across Moree Plains Shire Council so that Moree and Narrabri district producers may export directly out of Port Newcastle at a saving of about $35.00 per tonne.  The rest can wait until the Coalition return to government.

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Opinion: Australia has no plan to stop relying on diesel trucks for freight

Every day, hundreds of trucks barrel along highways from Melbourne to Brisbane. Some B-triple trucks stretch to 36 metres or more, more than seven times the length of an average car. Australia relies on those largely diesel-fuelled trucks for the vast majority of our intercity freight. More trucks are on the way. Infrastructure Australia predicts “large increases in road freight are expected for Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth” – especially in Melbourne, home to Australia’s busiest cargo port. As the recent global oil shock has…

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QW: Inland Rail decision shortsighted

How shortsighted does Australia continue to be about rail infrastructure by terminating the line at Parkes. Councils should not let this eventuate but fight for its completion as this will reduce heavy traffic on regional roads with less wear and tear on this infrastructure from truck traffic apart from the reduction in greenhouse gases. It would also make the consolidation of exports easier by having larger loads arrive simultaneously.The inland container depot model of industrial countries could be emulated so that export formalities are completed…

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QW: looking forward to new buses

Re: Expanded coach services to boost regional connections I’m an 81 year old and only drive locally these days. I was really looking forward to the new bus service between Armidale and Port Macquarie. Alas, the trip takes at least 11 hours via Urunga and then south to Port Macquarie, arriving in the early hours of the next day. 

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QW: Local farmer earns more than 5,000 carbon credits through soil project

re:  Local farmer earns more than 5,000 carbon credits through soil project Funny how natural fertilisers like rock phosphate and mulch have a greater impact on the long term conditioning of soil.  An experienced old farmer advised this 50 years ago, before super-P was added to our paddocks.  He was correct, the rock -P remained in the profile while the super-P washed through the profile and down the creek.

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Opinion: Access is not enough

Ingrid writes that Armidale is not as accessible as you might think, and encourages others to have their say on Armidale’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan.

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