Labour's $1 billion train set now worthless

[vifferman]

If you recall a little woopsie in the Mediterranean only a few months back, you'd realise that they don't actually keep their planes in the air.

What MSTRS said, except the latest news released to the media by the French investigators (BEFORE they'd told the families or Air NZ!) suggests that one of the NZers requested the German pilot do a low-speed test at an inappropriate altitude. Plane fell out of the sky and had insufficient altitude to recover.
But in any case - it had been in Yurp under contract for a couple of years, so the maintenance was all done there.

[merv]

MSTRS we're off trains, but didn't AirNZ Boeings once do the Napier to Christchurch route quite a few years back? Has the runway shrunk since then or safety margins increased?

[MisterD]

Sorry - you're quoting Idiot Savant - this is the guy who says that repealing the Electoral Finance Act is "a disaster for our democracy"

You gotta find a better commentator than that.

More to the point, why does anybody take any notice of a blogger with comments switched off?

[Ixion]

I'll confess to having romantic feelings about great big strong trains throbbing through the nation. There is a strong economic and environmental argument for using rail for mass delivery. But - its the last mile that matters. All very well getting a ton of oysters from Bluff to Auckland, but they are actually needed at restaurants all over the city - and rail can't do that. Trucks can and do.

The ton of oysters from Bluff will be shipped on a honking big Kenworth B train longhaul (well, actually they'd probably be sent by air, but, for the sake of argument ). No way is that B train going to wiggle down the narrow alleys to deliver a couple of pottles to that little restaurant.

The oysters will be off loaded at a depot and the oysters crossdocked to small vans for local delivery.

It wouldn't make the slightest difference to the delivery whether the goods were carried to the depot by line haul or by train.

The door to door argument is completely fallacious except for stuff that rial never claims or claimed to compete in - fresh flowers, urgent courier and such like.

[Tank]

Its OK - they outsource the important stuff.

Like what?

Old news mate. All heavy maintennance on the whole international and domestic fleet is done in NZ. All domestic maintennance done in NZ. The only heavy stuff done offshore is the Trent engines, and that's because Rolls Royce have the contracts tied up (even though the RB211's are done in Auckland).

Unlike QF......Oh that's right - AIRNZ does their planes too.

OK - Sorry - I stand corrected.

[MSTRS:Me]

MSTRS we're off trains, but didn't AirNZ Boeings once do the Napier to Christchurch route quite a few years back? Has the runway shrunk since then or safety margins increased?

You are right - they did - and yes.

[xwhatsit]

They've actually got very good engineering workshops, that until they were vastly undercut by China and other Asian workshops, were doing significant business servicing other airlines (and also jet turbines from naval vessels).
I'd much rather fly a NZ-serviced plane than some of the other crappy airlines.

Yes I've heard that, there's a guy I know who's from Seattle. He works for Air Honululu? Some sort of Hawaiian airline, I'm not familiar. He comes to Auckland and stays for a couple of weeks every few months, to supervise Air New Zealand doing work on their jets. I asked him why on earth they would do that, why not do the work closer to home or with their own workshops -- his reply was that Air NZ does a very good job and has been for a long time. Piece of mind.

Bring back rail!

[The Stranger:Me]

The ton of oysters from Bluff will be shipped on a honking big Kenworth B train longhaul (well, actually they'd probably be sent by air, but, for the sake of argument ). No way is that B train going to wiggle down the narrow alleys to deliver a couple of pottles to that little restaurant.

The oysters will be off loaded at a depot and the oysters crossdocked to small vans for local delivery.

It wouldn't make the slightest difference to the delivery whether the goods were carried to the depot by line haul or by train.

The door to door argument is completely fallacious except for stuff that rial never claims or claimed to compete in - fresh flowers, urgent courier and such like.

Seriously Ixion. What are the odds the oysters would actually arrive at all using rail?
IF they did, and you will note that's a big if, they would no doubt be here just in time for next season.
You could forget entirely about distribution to the end user if they were delivered by rail.

[Tank]

The ton of oysters from Bluff will be shipped on a honking big Kenworth B train longhaul (well, actually they'd probably be sent by air, but, for the sake of argument ). No way is that B train going to wiggle down the narrow alleys to deliver a couple of pottles to that little restaurant.

The oysters will be off loaded at a depot and the oysters crossdocked to small vans for local delivery.

All this talk of Bluff Oysters - in the paper the other day they said:

"The dash for the first Bluff oysters of the season is becoming a stampede after Niwa scientists and fishers reported that the first shellfish taken are the largest and healthiest they have seen for years."

And Im heading down there tomorrow by Bike - yippie-kai-yay motherfuckkers (yes I'm that excited)

[Ixion]

Seriously Ixion. What are the odds the oysters would actually arrive at all using rail?
IF they did, and you will note that's a big if, they would no doubt be here just in time for next season.
You could forget entirely about distribution to the end user if they were delivered by rail.

That's probably true for oysters. Hence why I said they'd go by air. Ditto things like fresh flowers. I only used oysters cos they woz already in the plot.

Same objection for trucks , but. Reckon how long it'd take to drive from Bluff to Dorkland.

Point is, rail is no different to trucks in terms of needing to be transferred for delivery to end users.

And back when NZ Rail had the long distance monopoly they had no trouble getting the stuff I sent twice a week, from Auckland to New Plymouth and Hawera, delivered next day. In good nick . And ditto return.

[Skyryder]

Sorry guy - your comments in the political threads of late give me no confidence in your opinions of anyone's level of political or business understanding.

This is from Keys opening speech in Job summit.

While New Zealand is in a better position than many other economies, we are feeling the effects of the global recession and we will continue to do so.

I do want to remind you all today about what New Zealand has to be grateful for.

Our banks are in a stronger financial position than those in many other countries.


Not the sort of thing he was saying during the election. Ok I can understand how he wants to dumb down the NZ economy to get himself elected but ask ya self how many shares were NZ buisness and our economy did he dumb down too along with losses to NZ investors. Now he is saying the complete opposite to the movers and shakers of NZ. He is not in any postion to bullshit these people as they clearly know the state of our economy and Key clearly states that our enconomy is in better shape than most other countries. Seems to be a pretty good endorsemnt of Cullens expertise don't ya think??

Like I said English is in bullshit mode and you are falling for it. And you question my level of political nous.


Skyryder

[MSTRS:Me]

..... Cullens expertise .........

Contradiction in terms. With the burgeoning money-go-round that he had his hooks into, there was almost no way that man could have completely fucked up. Face it, at the time (pre-Election) there was little sign of an imminent fiscal meltdown and he could afford to have things like ACC shortfalls hanging around while he worked on things like the rail debacle. As it's turned out, he has left a somewhat nasty legacy for Key to deal with. You can be sure that Liarbour's response to this global crisis would have been (more) fumbling and every bit as expensive. But you would have liked that, saying they were doing the best they could in a bad situation. Go figure.

[Robert Taylor]

This is from Keys opening speech in Job summit.

While New Zealand is in a better position than many other economies, we are feeling the effects of the global recession and we will continue to do so.

I do want to remind you all today about what New Zealand has to be grateful for.

Our banks are in a stronger financial position than those in many other countries.


Not the sort of thing he was saying during the election. Ok I can understand how he wants to dumb down the NZ economy to get himself elected but ask ya self how many shares were NZ buisness and our economy did he dumb down too along with losses to NZ investors. Now he is saying the complete opposite to the movers and shakers of NZ. He is not in any postion to bullshit these people as they clearly know the state of our economy and Key clearly states that our enconomy is in better shape than most other countries. Seems to be a pretty good endorsemnt of Cullens expertise don't ya think??

Like I said English is in bullshit mode and you are falling for it. And you question my level of political nous.


Skyryder

If the Labour party had been actually honest about all the skeletons they were leaving in the closet then they would have lost with even more humiliation. Yet again the National party has inherited a poisoned chalice from a free spending Labour government.
Just a reminder to you, NATIONAL WON, LABOUR LOST. ( Excellent result )

[oldrider]

If the Labour party had been actually honest about all the skeletons they were leaving in the closet then they would have lost with even more humiliation. Yet again the National party has inherited a poisoned chalice from a free spending Labour government.
Just a reminder to you, NATIONAL WON, LABOUR LOST. ( Excellent result )

Elections in New Zealand are never won they are always lost by the incumbent!

The nation was sick to death of Helen and her mob of socialist dictators.

The majority have no idea what National even stands for and they don't even care! John.

[SPman]

If the Labour party had been actually honest about all the skeletons they were leaving in the closet then they would have lost with even more humiliation. Yet again the National party has inherited a poisoned chalice from a free spending Labour government.
Just a reminder to you, NATIONAL WON, LABOUR LOST. ( Excellent result )

Until next time, when Labour will inherit the Nats poisoned chalice.......etc etc etc........

and so it goes, forever and a day!
They're all egocentric little twerps, anyway. I don't know why we have to listen to any of them!