ISSUE 11 | DECEMBER 2020 WWW.RAILEXPRESS.COM.AU A fully integrated Smart Public Information ECOsystem - SEE PAGE 26 SYSTRA's approach on Mark Campbell takes Improving safety culture Grand Paris Express over the reins at ARTC on megaprojects PAGE 34 PAGE 52 PAGE 92 SUPPORTED BY: RailGallery-Ad-2020-June.pdf 1 18/06/2020 12:47:04 PM MELVELLE EQUIPMENT Transport and industrial marketing The Rail Electric Equipment Specialists C M Y CM MY CY CMY K The world is changing, are you ready? Melvelle Equipment is a specialist supplier of railway maintenance equipment. We offer in-house design and manufacturing to help our customers improve their safety and productivity. With emerging competitors, changes in government policies and Since 1982, Melvelle have been offering small track increasing competition for talent, we must build marketing that enhances maintenance solutions for the insertion and removal of track brand, positions the organisation and helps increase resilience to fasteners as well as welding equipment, overhead wiring, change and disruption. ballast regulating and track geometry. We help you evolve to harness new opportunities, overcome different Our product offering has now grown to include battery challenges and enable your ongoing success. operated equipment and are distributors for international brands which include: Rail Products UK (MEWP and Cranes), Knox Kershaw, Abtus, Permaquip, Rotabroach, Enerpac, Sola Track gauges, MK Tools ballast Tyne. Knowledge of Think like Stunning the industry our clients results Our reliable, purpose built equipment will help you effi ciently maintain your railway assets. railgallery.com.au +61 2 4951 5244 | [email protected] | melvelle.com.au From the Editor Issue 11 - December 2020 Published by: 11-15 Buckhurst St South Melbourne VIC 3205 T: 03 9690 8766 Connor Pearce www.primecreativemedia.com.au Editor - Rail Express Publisher Christine Clancy Valuing an essential service E: [email protected] Chief Operating Officer TEPPING INTO THE ROLE OF around their cities underwent one of the Zelda Tupicoff editor of Rail Express in January, the most abrupt and profound changes. Amid E: [email protected] Soncoming COVID-19 pandemic was yet this upheaval, however, the two threads of to make an impact. Instead, the first week a focus on safety and a commitment to the General Manager (Sydney) in the role was taken up with a response essential nature of freight and passenger Terry Wogan to another crisis. In the Blue Mountains, services that had come out earlier in the E: [email protected] west of Sydney, crews were working around year returned. the clock to restore services to a critical The freight rail sector instituted new Group Managing Editor (Northern) Syed Shah section of the nation’s rail network, after the protocols to ensure that rail could continue E: [email protected] bushfires of the 2019-2020 summer. to move essential products and supplies Here was an early taste of the largely unencumbered around Australia. Editor commitment the rail industry had to While this had a human impact on what Connor Pearce ensuring that people and goods could move can already be a lonely role, without these E: [email protected] safely, even in the face of unprecedented measures it is unclear how supermarket conditions. Crews would continue this work shelves would have remained stocked and Business Development Manager throughout the coming months, with the essential exports could have made it to port. Oliver Probert T: +61 435 946 869 line returning to full capacity in May after In cities, the dual commitment to safety E: [email protected] 150,000 man hours were put in to get and continuity of service also continued. services back up and running. While office workers emptied out of the Client Success Manager A month later, the Rail Express team woke CBDs, essential workers still needed to Janine Clements to news of an incident near Wallan having travel, and cities largely maintained their E: [email protected] occurred the night before. News quickly passenger rail schedules to enable those filtered out that an XPT train travelling from who did need to travel to do so safely. Design Production Manager Sydney to Melbourne had derailed, and It is a testament to the rail industry that Michelle Weston tragically, two crew members were killed in throughout such a year the sector has been E: [email protected] the accident. able to survive and, in some cases, thrive, The collective response from the industry, as a recognised essential service. Major Art Director construction projects have been able to Blake Storey to identify the root cause and ensure that continue and, where possible, get ahead E: [email protected] such an incident would never occur again, is evidence of the safety focus of the industry of deadlines during the COVID-19 period, Design as a whole. With investigations being setting up cities and regions well for a Kerry Pert, Madeline McCarty conducted by the Australian Transport Safety return to public transport. Bureau (ATSB), the Office of the National With rail a proven solution for safe, Subscriptions Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR), and Work efficient mobility for people and freight [email protected] Safe, there will undoubtedly be lessons to be within and between urban centres, the learnt, however with work continuing along experience of 2020 should serve as a case www.RailExpress.com.au the line there will be a clear mandate to put study for years to come of the essential in place any physical upgrades. value of rail. The Publisher reserves the right to alter or omit any article or advertisement submitted and Then, in late March, COVID-19 hit the rail requires indemnity from the advertisers and sector. Shutdowns of non-essential services contributors against damages or liabilities that and limits on travel meant that the way may arise from material published. © Copyright – No part of this publication may that Australians and New Zealanders moved [email protected] be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the permission of the Publisher. 3 | ISSUE 11 - DECEMBER 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS AusRAIL 2020 Going off-road Policy settings undermining the shift from road to rail mean communities miss out on the benefits of freight rail, writesCaroline Wilkie, CEO of the Australasian Railway Association. For too long now, the rise of B-doubles being among the best in the world. However, containerised freight has on our highways has been seen as an It is the home of the world’s first fully struggled to flourish in the same way. unfortunate but necessary part of meeting autonomous heavy haul operation, driving Inland Rail will deliver a significant boost the nation’s growing freight task. new efficiency in the mining industry. to capacity and efficiency, circumventing But the reality is that the sight of Rail in the Pilbara not only delivers the traditional challenges in moving freight more trucks on the road is due in large best solution for the massive operations it between Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. part to policy settings that make the serves but saves billions in reduced costs to It will also improve east-west safer, more sustainable alternative of rail the environment and from accidents. connections, with the Parkes intermodal less competitive. The payload capacity of one automated facility to provide a critical link between the When the ARA released its Value of Rail train in the Pilbara is the equivalent to Inland Rail and connections to WA. 2020 report in November, it confirmed the 631 B-Double trucks, an alternative that The 1,700km rail line will be rail freight sector was critical to meeting the is difficult to contemplate in the great transformative for the freight sector and the nation’s needs but noted the challenges it expanses of the WA outback. many businesses that rely upon it. faces outside of the resources sector. The benefits of efficient, reliable rail to But Inland Rail alone cannot be the whole In the Pilbara region of WA, the resources move these huge quantities across our vast solution to ensure we get more freight on to sector’s rail freight operations are known for country is clear. rail to support the nation’s growth. Container incentive schemes such as those in Fremantle, WA, have seen a shift towards rail freight. 4 | ISSUE 11 - DECEMBER 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS Moving more freight via rail from key ports reduces urban transport congestion, with measurable benefits. CREDIT: RAILGALLERY.COM.AU CREDIT: Limited infrastructure in the cities on It is an essential step after rail’s modal the east coast of Australia are part of the share in NSW stagnated, while permits problem, but favourable pricing models that were issued to high productivity vehicles give road freight the edge are to blame too. to access the Sydney metropolitan road And it is coming at a significant cost to network, including WestConnex. the community. Given a single short haul port train While there is a place for both road and carries the equivalent payload of 41 rail as part of a growing and efficient rail B-double trucks, a level playing field would network, an over-reliance on road could help alleviate congestion on Sydney’s have an impact many of us simply would busy roads and provide better long-term not be comfortable accepting. outcomes for the sector as a whole. Rail freight generates 16 times less The need to move more freight on rail is carbon pollution than road freight per not a nice ideal, but an urgent and pressing tonne kilometre travelled, making it the issue that Australia must take action clear choice to support the nation’s work to on now.