thermionic, the 19,000 engineering inquiries did require Downer...

thermionic, the 19,000 engineering inquiries did require Downer to make design changes to the Waratah train.

"The Waratah was supposed to be 80 per cent based on the Millennium model, but this hadn't turned out to be the case after more than 19,000 design changes to the train."

The NSW gov required almost every part to be designed, built and tested from scratch.

If you really want to know truth as to why so much fuss (i.e. all out war) is being made over Reliance Rail's petty debt, read on. . .

Reliance Rail is a Public Private Partnership (ppp) no different to all the other gov infrastructure projects. Because of the cost blowout, and Downer claiming its not their problem, the bottom has fallen out of Reliance Rail's credit rating.

So the finance provider(s) left holding that loan when the rating went down is stuck with it. They can't repack and on-sell the loan for anything. This puts risk into all PPPs. If this can't be resolved then all of them should be re-rated and considered toxic, maybe. So billions and billions could get locked up with risk and uncertainty (like sub-prime) and the banks are angry.

But who cares, as Downer says, PPP's are difficult. Its far better doing business with the resource sector. On that front, FMG has enough work to keep Downer busy and in the money for a millennium (preferred tenderer).