8/7/2019 RACV Transport Quill 2010

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JANUARY 24, 2010 theage.com.au $2 INCGSTSUNDAY NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR

BAGGINGTHE BAG

WOMENON TOP

SUNDAY LIFE

The great green con

LOVE ITOR LEAVE?

OPINION

How pops fi rst ladiesdominate the charts

NEWS

Mark Seymour cans thepatriotic question

B

C

D

WEATHERTODAYMostlysunny26TOMORROWMostlysunny28TUESDAY Showeror two33

DETAILSPage 19

PHOTO MONTAGE: SIMON ODWYER

Lookbehindthecliches andyou

soon findoldtruthsinnewguises,writesGaryTippet.

AUSTRALIADAY SPECIALOurnationaliconsPAGES 10-11

OUR

ICONSAUSTRALIA DAY

SPECIAL

WHATarethe icons orcliches,if youlikethatspelloutAustralian-ness?Backin1976anad forGMHstrippeditto four basics. Welovefoot-ball,meatpies, kangaroosandHoldencars,wentthemantra. Well,you suresoundlikeAustraliatome!In2000, theSydneyOlym-

picsopeningandclosingcere-monieslaidthemonwithashovel.ALightHorseBrigadeofMenfromSnowyRiverinAkubras andDrizabones,crackingstockwhips;giantNolanNedKellys;massedVictamowers;HillsHoists;andhuge rubber thongs.

Butcrasscommercialismandartisticoverkillaside,thereareconcepts,peopleand,well,justthingsthatwerecogniseas quintessentiallyAustralian.(AndperhapsSydney2000was reallycele-bratingacoupleofthebestofthem:our irreverenceandourwillingnessto takethepiss,evenoutofourselves.)FromUlurutotheReef

andbacktotheBridgeandOperaHouse,fromBradman,MelbaandNedKellytoErrolFlynnandhiswicked,wickedways,fromFournTwentypiesand Vegemiteto laming-tonsand evenburgerswithpineappleand beetroot,ouriconsrangefrom themagnifi-centto themundane.Whatother country

includesamongits cultural

touchstonesa rotaryclothes-line ortheute,thathalfcar/halftruckthatsprangfromafarmerswifes callfor avehi-clethatcouldtakehertochurchonSundayandthepigstomarketon Monday?Orswapsits nationaldress from

thongs, SpeedosandJackieHowesinglets toBluey jacketsandUggboots,dependingontheseason?That reveresawart-facedracehorsewithanoutsizedheart calledPharLaporits half-cousinweknowonlyas Simpsonsdonkey?

ThisAustraliaDay,TheSundayAgetakesa lookathalfa dozentraditionalnational iconsand thepeoplewhorepresentthemin 2010.Theres therockabillybar-

maidin abikerbar.TheNewAustraliansbeginninga new

life behindthecounterof acornermilkbar.The Kafka-reading,university-educatedDiggerservinghis country inAfghanistan.Thedroverswifenotcontentto stayat home.Thebushpoetturnedsub-urbanindeepestBalwyn.And

theBondi lifesaver blonde,braveandsix monthspreg-nant.Theysuresound likeAus-

traliatous.

Fear over train brake faultsREID SEXTONTRANSPORT

CONTINUED PAGE2

COMMUTERS face fresh railchaos with seven of the newesttrains on Melbournes networkbeing impounded indefinitelyfollowing potentially deadlybrake failures.

With up to nine six-car Sie-mens trains a quarter of the$500 million Siemens fleet now out of service, delays are setto worsen when school beginsnext week and thousands of stu-dents resume using the alreadyovercrowded network.

Metro has confirmed thatseven trains were pulled fromservice following a spate of incid-

ents in recent weeks in whichthey inexplicably failed to stop atstation platforms and, in mostcases, slid across level crossings.It is believed passengers were onboard most of the services.

One driver claims two othertrains have been removed forother faults. Metro denies this.

With so much pressure on thenetwork already, a senior Metrosource and the Public TransportUsers Association agreed that thesystem would collapse if moretrains had to be withdrawnbecause of the mysterious brakefault, a heatwave or any unfore-seen problem.

Metro management met thesafety regulator, Public Transport

Safety Victoria, last week to dis-cuss the growing problem.

The Sunday Age believes thatlast Sunday night two trains over-shot the platform at Hallam,including a Pakenham-boundtrain that skidded almost half akilometre beyond the platform.

No one was injured in theHallam incidents but drivers anda senior Metro source agree it isonly a matter of time before atrain full of passengers collideswith road traffic.

We know what the ramifica-tions of this could be, a drivertold The Sunday Age.

If the driver isnt killed and afamilyiskilledina carthatis neg-ligently sitting on the crossing,

like they do every day of theweek, who wants to live withthat?You dontwant tobe lookingat a carload of bloody kids orsomebody who could be yourmother in a car just before yousnuff their life out.

The senior Metro sourcewarned that commuters wouldface chaos when thousands ofschoolchildren resumed usingthe already overcrowded networknext week. But Siemens trainsshould not be on the network.Without warning they fail tooperate and no one can tell youwhy, the source said.

Public Transport SafetyVictoria last month declined afreedom-of-information request

to release reports into recentSiemens overshoots. DirectorAlan Osborne said the exact

causeof theovershootsremainedunknown, but they occurredwhen there was moisture on thetracks from rain or humidity.

He said while safety concernswere paramount, he was com-fortable leaving the remainingSiemens trains on the network.

A senior industry source saidit was believed the problemswere caused by ongoing issueswiththe brakingsoftwareand thewheels being too smooth, likebald tyres on a car.

The latest incidents mark thereturn of problems that haveplagued the states 36 Siemenstrains just over 20 per cent ofall trains on the Melbourne railnetwork since their arrival in

2003. The impounding hassparked fears of a repeat of threeyears ago when Siemens with-drawals meant almost 40 plan-ned peak-hour cancellationsdaily.

Their removal is alreadyaffecting services, sources say,but it will be severely felt whenschool returns, with furtherdelays inevitable.

The senior source said man-agement was shocked the trainswere still involved in serioussafetybreachesand wasdreadingthe increased disruption.

There are some very nervouspeople around here and some

The greatSMSswindle:Telcoscash inRICHARDWEBB

CONTINUED PAGE4

EditorialPAGE16

AUSTRALIANS are being chargedup to 10 times more to send textmessages than mobile phoneusers in other countries, with thenations telecommunicationgiants pocketing hundreds ofmillions of dollars for providingthe virtually cost-free service.

But despite paying the highestSMSchargesin theworld, Austra-lians who will send a stagger-ing 20 billion texts this year, up20 per cent on 2009 have toput up with one of the mostunreliable mobile phoneservices, according to consumeradvocates.

Thestandardflatratefora textmessage at Telstra and Optus is25 cents, the same as it has beenfor five years. At Vodafone, a textis charged at a nominal 28 cents.

That is more than 10 timeswhat it costs in many parts ofAsia and almost a third higherthan in Europe and Canada,research conducted for The Sun-day Agehas revealed.

The British pay up to 19 centsper text, Americans 22 cents andin NZ the cost varies between 7and 17 cents per text.

Our analysis of SMS ratesfrom a number of countries sug-gests that Australians do, by andlarge, face the costliest chargeswhen it comes to text mes-saging, said Lanil Thalakada,analyst with MAP Research.

Allan Asher, chief executive ofthe Australian Consumer Com-munications Action Group(ACCAN), a new consumer bodyestablished by the Federal Gov-ernment, said that if the mobilephone service Australiansreceived was of a premium qual-ity, then that would be a mitigat-ing factor.

But its not our service isamongst the worst in the world

Stosursizzles,MarcosmeltsPETERMUNROGREGBAUM

SPORTAllthe daysaction

CONTINUED PAGE2

SamanthaStosurraisedher racquetinvictory.

AUSTRALIADay,theycalledit,

andfittinglyit wasmarkedwithbothcelebrationand regret.Ournationalday haslong engenderedmixedemotions.And soit passedatweeks endof theAustralianOpen withvictorythenawk-warddefeatfor localhopesin thewomens draw.

Andthe most-hypedmatchoftheOpen,an expectedmarathonstugglebetweenLleytonHewittandMarcosBaghdatis, wasoverinunderanhour,whentheCyp-riotsuccumbed toa shoulderinjury. Forthe loudcrowdingreen-and-goldinsideRod LaverArena,it feltlikehostinga barbe-cueonlyto serveup burntsaus-ages.

CentreCourt wasa master-classin contrastsyesterday.Morningmist forcedtheclosureofthe roofoverRod LaverArena,wherehard-hitting SamanthaStosur poweredinto thelast 16oftheGrandSlam in straightsets. Byafternoon,the clouds hadclearedandshe wasalso thelast Austra-lianstandingin thewomensdraw.

The13th seedsclinicalvictory(6-4,6-1) wasa fine,if somewhatmuted, startto anovercastday.TheGold Coastright-handerplayswitha silent, steely deter-minationin a sportdominatedbygrunting women. Heropponent,AlbertaBrianti, a surprisinglymeekItalian,hadlittlechancetoshowsomebraggadocio.At times,thematchseemedlike twomimeslockedin silentbattle.

Stosur,25, saysshe enjoysreadingcelebritygossipinmagazines.Nowshe islearningto