University of Wollongong Research Online Faculty of Engineering and Information Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A Sciences 1-1-2014 A competitive interstate rail freight and passenger network Philip Laird University of Wollongong, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/eispapers Part of the Engineering Commons, and the Science and Technology Studies Commons Recommended Citation Laird, Philip, "A competitive interstate rail freight and passenger network" (2014). Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A. 2724. https://ro.uow.edu.au/eispapers/2724 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] A competitive interstate rail freight and passenger network Abstract An outline is given of the East - West rail corridor linking Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, and the North - South corridor between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The competitiveness of freight services on the North - South corridor is limited due to 'steam age' alignment and low clearances. Both corridors have lower axle loads and restricted train lengths when compared with mainlines of the two Canadian Class I railroads. The Brisbane Cairns corridor is cited as an example of where rail deviations completed during the 1990s have allowed for faster and heavier freight trains and the effective introduction of tilt trains. Proposals for an inland railway are also noted along with the impact on rail of the reconstruction of the Hume and Pacific Highways. Continuing to improve rail’s share of land freight on the East West corridor (now over 80 per cent) and lifting the low shares on the North - South corridor (lower than 10 per cent on the shorter corridors) would deliver substantial savings in diesel use along with reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, and result in appreciably lower external costs. Keywords freight, network, rail, passenger, interstate, competitive Disciplines Engineering | Science and Technology Studies Publication Details Laird, P. (2014). A competitive interstate rail freight and passenger network. Conference on Railway Excellence, Proceedings (pp. 121-130). Australia: Railway Technical Society of Australasia (RTSA). This conference paper is available at Research Online: https://ro.uow.edu.au/eispapers/2724 A COMPETITIVE INTERSTATE RAIL FREIGHT AND PASSENGER NETWORK Philip Laird MSc (VUW and ANU), PhD (Calgary), FCILT, Comp IE Aust University of Wollongong SUMMARY An outline is given of the East - West rail corridor linking Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, and the North South corridor between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The competitiveness of freight services on the North South corridor is limited due to 'steam age' alignment and low clearances. Both corridors have lower axle loads and restricted train lengths when compared with mainlines of the two Canadian Class I railroads. The Brisbane Cairns corridor is cited as an example of where rail deviations completed during the 1990s have allowed for faster and heavier freight trains and the effective introduction of tilt trains. Proposals for an inland railway are also noted along with the impact on rail of the reconstruction of the Hume and Pacific Highways. Continuing to improve rails share of land freight on the East West corridor (now over 80 per cent) and lifting the low shares on the North - South corridor (lower than 10 per cent on the shorter corridors) would deliver substantial savings in diesel use along with reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, and result in appreciably lower external costs. INTRODUCTION corresponds to 31.9 TAL can move on some track at speeds of up to 129 km/h (80 mph). This paper shall be mainly concerned with the Double stacking of containers is also standard. East-West rail corridor linking Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, and the North-South The lengths of crossing loops on the East- corridor between Melbourne, Sydney and West and North-South corridors is a further Brisbane. Brief comment is given on proposals issue. Here, the current limit is 1800 metres for an Inland Railway and other issues such as (and in some cases 1500 m; with the exception 'highway subsidization'. of 'passing lanes' between Junee and Melbourne). This length does not compare well Most of the interstate mainlines are now under with that of crossing loops on the mainlines in the control of the Australian Rail Track Canada with 10,000 feet (3000 m) and Corporation (ARTC) and allow the operation of increasingly 12,000 feet (3600 m). In addition, freight trains with a 23 Tonnes Axle Load Western Canada has had two transcontinental (TAL) at speeds up to 80 km/h, or with a 21 routes since 1920 whereas Eastern Australia TAL at speeds up to 115 km/h. In addition, has just one such route. freight train speeds on most of the North-South corridor, and the Adelaide Hills section of the It is of note that axle loads of up to 40 TAL are East-West corridor are constrained by track used in the iron ore railways of the Pilbara laid down in the 'steam age' with excessive region of Western Australia, whilst the Hunter tight radius curvature. There are also Valley track in New South Wales (NSW - constraints on the moving of trains with double managed by ARTC) has 30 TAL. stacked containers on interstate tracks to west of Adelaide and Parkes. SETTING THE SCENE Such speed-weight and load flexibility A central finding of a 1989 Parliamentary conditions fall far short of the standards that Committee [1] examining rail was that:"...The apply to the mainlines of Canadian and United plain fact is that a greatly increased amount of States Class I railroads. Here wagons at freight could be carried across the continent by 286,000 pounds gross weight, which rail more efficiently and with greater safety Philip Laird A competitive interstate rail and passenger freight network University of Wollongong than it ever could be by road. ... If rail were and Territory Governments) agreed to adopt more efficient and carried the amount of freight certain measures to make [4] "...dramatic it should, lives would be saved, less non- improvements in the performance of interstate renewable resources would be used and less rail" in order to overcome a situation where pollution would be generated......Australia is rail has "...failed to compete effectively with paying the price of neglect and bandaid road transport" and rail "...has not realised its solutions in an endeavour to solve problems in potential contribution to the national economy" its rail systems. ... Rail has been starved of funds and rendered inefficient. " The measures, which were supported by the findings of the NTPT, included average speeds Although some progress has been made on for freight trains with 21 tonne axle loads TAL the past 25 years on further improving the per hour as a five year goal, and 100 km per efficiency of rail (including management and hour as a 'longer term' goal. work practices), the gains have been mixed. On the one hand, the East West corridor has In addition, the scope of works for been significantly improved and rail now wins implementing the NTPT goals, including some over 80 per cent of the interstate land freight in track realignment, were endorsed by a House and out of Perth. of Representatives Committee [5]. The thrust of the Committee's report was that the existing On the other hand, on the North South corridor mainline interstate track was in urgent need of linking Australia’s three largest cities, rails upgrading, with an investment of $1 bn over share of land freight has been going the next three years, and after 2001, a further backwards since 1989. More detail on this is $2 bn. given later. However, the ATC agreed measure of lifting In 1992, as a result of an inter-governmental the average speed of freight trains with 21 TAL agreement, a National Rail Corporation was to 80 km/h has proved elusive. In 1998, formed to move interstate freight. Detailed average actual speeds for intermodal trains on studies since 1992 addressing the interstate all sectors of track [6], ranged from 48 km/h network include those of National Transport (Brisbane Sydney due to excessive 'dwell' Planning Task Force (NTPT) [2] and in 2001, a time of five hours) to some 70 km/h. Track Audit [3] for the ARTC. Both studies included proposals to improve the efficiency of The average speeds reflect transit times, and the interstate rail network and included the for rail to be competitive, it is necessary to construction of some deviations to ease reduce these times for various sectors. This gradients and curvature along with extending includes reducing Sydney Melbourne from a the ability to run double stacked containers. long standing 13.5 hours (even when hauled by steam locomotives in the early 1960s) to 12 In a 1994 report, the NTPT [2, p69] identified or less hours. two competitive goals for rail. The first goal was to improve reliability and transit times, and Comparing 1998 actual average speeds [6], to reduce interstate rail freight full unit costs and recent ones as noted by the Bureau of down to 3 cents per net tonne km (tkm) over a Infrastructure, Transport and Regional few years. Economics (BITRE) [7, Table 13], between 1998 and 2010, there was little or no The second goal, and a longer term goal, was improvement on either the East West or the to get these costs down to 2 cents per tkm. In North South corridors. The situation for transit respect of the second competitive goal, the times has improved in recent years on the NTPT [2, p57] BTCE report noted ''About $3 North South corridor with the completion of a billion of investment is estimated to be NSW North Coast curve easing project in 2011 warranted over the next 20 year" including ($106m) and a somewhat delayed South about $1 billion (bn) for the Sydney Melbourne Sydney Freight Line in early 2013 ($960m - corridor, and another $1 bn for the Sydney which has also improved the reliability of Brisbane corridor.