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MEDIA STATEMENT 29 July 2019 Australia's Major Highway Now a Conveyor Belt for Big Trucks

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MEDIA STATEMENT 29 July 2019 Australia's Major Highway Now a Conveyor Belt for Big Trucks MEDIA STATEMENT 29 July 2019 Media contact: Paul Hitchins 0419 315 001 Australia’s major highway now a conveyor belt for big trucks 700,000 B-double truck trips on Hume Highway each year Rail freight on its deathbed between Melbourne & Sydney In a disturbing development, Australia’s largest rail freight operator, Pacific National has declared rail freight is on its deathbed between Melbourne and Sydney. Pacific National CEO Dean Dalla Valle said less than 1 per cent of 20-million tonnes of palletised and containerised freight transported between Melbourne and Sydney is now hauled by trains. “Australia’s busiest freight corridor by volume has become a conveyor belt of 700,000 B-double equivalent return truck trips each year along the Hume Highway1,” said Mr Dalla Valle. Mr Dalla Valle said excessive government charges applied to rail freight services and a build-up of red tape2 is suffocating the haulage of goods by rail between Australia’s two biggest cities. “Bizarrely, at a time when Australians want safer roads, less traffic congestion during their daily commute3, reduced vehicle emissions, and properly maintained roads4, government policies are geared to rolling out bigger and heavier trucks5 on more roads,” said Mr Dalla Valle. A 2016 report by Australian Automobile Association ranked sections of the Hume Highway as some of the nation’s most dangerous roads6, while a 2017 Deloitte Access Economics report found, for every tonne of freight hauled a kilometre, trucks produce 14 times greater accident costs than trains7. Mr Dalla Valle said trucks may not be the root cause of most accidents, but the sheer size, weight and momentum of a truck crashing with a car often results in casualties or fatalities. “Now the Hume Highway is fully duplicated, I suspect governments in the future will allow access for even bigger trucks on the freeway, including A-doubles and B-triples8,” said Mr Dalla Valle. Mr Dalla Valle said Pacific National calculated access costs of hauling a 20-foot container between Melbourne and Sydney by a freight train or B-double to be $94 and $55, respectively. “In terms of accessing the freight corridor between Melbourne and Sydney, that’s a massive 70 per cent cost penalty for rail – this rips the guts out of our industry,” said Mr Dalla Valle. The Australian Government taxes operators like Pacific National an ‘access charge’ to run freight trains on railways. Current access charges do not account for extensive taxpayer funding of roads (and hence support for trucks) compared to significant commercial demands on rail freight9. Mr Dalla Valle said to resuscitate rail freight between Melbourne and Sydney, government must aim for an equal volume share of rail and road freight by 2021 – Australians like a fair go. “To achieve a minimum 50:50 freight volume share between rail and road, government access charges must be abolished on the rail corridor between the two cities,” said Mr Dalla Valle. Pacific National estimates increasing the rail freight share between Melbourne and Sydney to 50 per cent would help save four lives and $300-million in road accident costs on the Hume Highway each year. Annual vehicle emissions along the highway would be reduced by 430,000 tonnes. Mr Dalla Valle said supporting more freight on rail means a healthy long-term revenue stream for government and huge benefits and savings derived from a wide range of social, economic and environmental gains. Australians want real trains, not road trains hauling large volumes of freight. ENDS Page 1 of 2 MEDIA STATEMENT 29 July 2019 Media contact: Paul Hitchins 0419 315 001 References 1. 99% of 20-million tonnes = 19,800,000 tonnes hauled by trucks. 26-metre B-double is a common truck configuration deployed on the Hume Highway. Maximum payload weight 42.5 tonnes. 19,800,000 42.5 465,880 B-double equivalent truck trips p.a. between Melbourne and Sydney. But not every truck runs with a full payload (particularly on return-trips) and numerous trucks haul much lighter loads on the Hume (e.g. groceries; parcels). To account for partial and/or lighter truck payloads, multiply by a factor of 1.5 to arrive at 700,000. Note: max. payload weight of a 6-axle 19-metre semitrailer (another common truck on the Hume Highway) 27 tonnes. Hence, number of truck trips on the Hume Highway each year as described above is a very conservative figure. 2. Rail freight languishing in the age of steam. Freight on Rail Group of Australia (November 2018). http://www.forg.com.au/media-publications 3. Avoidable cost of congestion for Australian capital cities is estimated to be around $16.5 billion for the 2015 financial year. BITRE ‘business-as-usual’ projections of these costs of metropolitan congestion rise to around $30 billion by 2030 – with the various modelling scenarios conducted giving aggregate 2030 results of between $27.7 and $37.3 billion. https://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/2015/is_074.aspx 4. Funding local roads. Addressing the infrastructure backlog NSW regional and local roads (January 2019). https://www.mynrma.com.au/-/media/documents/advocacy/funding-local- roads.pdf?la=en&hash=16AFA58605854AB57AB944E6F565DAB215304D76 5. ‘Frankenstein truck’ recently approved by National Heavy Vehicle Regulator. This configuration is not approved to access the Hume Highway; but you get the picture how government agencies are bending over backwards to allow bigger and heavier trucks on Australian roads. Australia’s first B-Quad truck: • 105.5 tonnes at top weight • 36.5 metres (120 feet) in length • 20 per cent productivity increase compared to typical Road Train • Select routes between Victoria & Queensland • Hauling fresh produce https://www.ownerdriver.com.au/industry-news/1808/behind-the-build-australias- first-b-quad-hits-the-road 6. Rating Australia’s National Network for Risk (AusRap 2016). http://ausrap.aaa.asn.au/ 7. Value of Rail. The contribution of rail in Australia (November 2017). A report commissioned by the Australasian Railway Association (ARA). https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/Economics/deloitte-au-economics-value-rail-contribution- australia-161117.pdf 8. NSW Heavy Vehicle Access Policy Framework. Transport for NSW (September 2018). https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/documents/business-industry/heavy-vehicles/tfnsw-heavy-vehicle-access-policy-framework.pdf 11-axle A-double (85-tonnes max. weight) 12-axle B-triple (36.5-metres / 90.5-tonnes max. weight) 9. Other than toll roads (e.g. WestConnex), road networks are provided as a ‘public good’ and predominantly owned by state and local governments; hence no expectation of a commercial return. In contrast, rail networks are owned by commercial or semi- commercial entities seeking a return. Above-rail operators like Pacific National pay (via access charges) significant capital and maintenance expenditure; indeed, often the full economic cost (marginal cost + returns). Road transport operators only pay marginal cost and have the benefit of substantial government infrastructure funding for new and improved roads. Page 2 of 2 .
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