Freight Rail
What are the major commodities and tonnages carried by rail? Freight tonnes carried by rail is made up of:
Learn more Is the freight task expected to increase in the medium-term? This is forecast to grow by around 2% a year to 2020 but is closely related to export demand. What is rail’s share of Australia’s total land freight task? In 2004/05 rail handled 183 billion tonne-km of freight with the road system hauling 169 billion tonne–km. Rail carries the majority of bulk freight – 574.87 million tonnes in 2003/04 increasing to 647.06 million tonnes in 2006/07. How is rail competing with road in the domestic non-bulk general freight traffic on Australia’s intercapital corridors? Rail carried 18.58 million tonnes in 2006/07, an increase of 17.4% in the past five years. Forecast growth is 4% a year to 2020 which is determined mainly by domestic economic activity. However, trucks move about 80% of domestic non-bulk freight and dominate every major route except the Eastern States – WA corridor as is shown in the table below: Domestic non-bulk Freight
What major changes have been made to increase freight rail productivity? Since the 1990’s Australia’s railways have undergone significant change resulting in productivity improvements worth over $2 billion. Privatisation has seen a decline in government ownership and management of freight railways. All freight operations are privately owned and operated except for Queensland based rail operator QR which operates national freight services. (QR Limited is a public company limited by shares and a company Government Owned Corporation). ‘Above Rail’ operations (freight and passenger trains) have been separated from ‘Below Rail’ activities (track ownership, maintenance & construction, access to the rail network to run trains and allocation of train paths) - except in Queensland - as part of national competition reform and open access to government railway infrastructure. This resulted in private companies offering freight and passenger services over government-owned track. Learn more Why use rail freight services when trucks are quicker and more reliable? Rail freight services have a number of competitive advantages over road in the transport logistics supply chain. Rail is more cost-effective at handling large volumes than road, saves vehicle and labour costs, provides safer transport. Rail’s reliability is also improving due to infrastructure investment programs. Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) research in 2008 showed that rail was generally cheaper than truck for non-bulk domestic freight on inter-capital corridors. A prime factor was world oil prices averaging almost US$100 per barrel in 2007-08. For many years rail has been competitive with truck on price on a terminal-to-terminal basis but this ARTC research showed that rail was cheaper than road on a door-to-door basis on all but one corridor. Rail cannot provide a door-to-door service like trucks, so why bother double handling – just use trucks? Many companies in Australia and overseas have a door-to-door rail service through use of their own rail sidings. Road is not always door to door. Bigger and heavier trucks (including B-doubles) that have replaced rail for many transport tasks do not provide a door-to-door service and are unloaded into smaller trucks for distribution. Are there any proposals to introduce bigger trucks such as B-Triples onto Australian roads? Australia has widespread use of B-Double trucks on the road network and Australia’s Transport Ministers have already endorsed policy changes to expand this network to B-Triples, which at approximately 36.5 metres long and with a gross mass of 82.5 tonnes, are among the longest freight vehicles in the world. The National Transport Commission (NTC) is working with industry and governments to identify an extended B-triple network. However, it is acknowledged by the NTC that over time extensions to the B-triple network may be conditional on planning and funding to improve road infrastructure which could include road widening, town bypasses, overtaking opportunities, intersection improvements, upgraded rest areas and trailer breaking areas. The extra length and weight of B-triples increases braking distances and adds time to turning and changing lanes. The Australian Trucking Association is pressing for the introduction of B-Triples on the Melbourne-Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane (via the Newell highway) corridors. The type of goods most likely carried over these routes by B-triples could equally be carried by rail with lower greenhouse gas emissions. It is important to remember that one Melbourne-Sydney freight train takes 150 trucks off the road, saving 45,000 litres of fuel and produces 44 tonnes less of greenhouse gas emissions. Do B-Double trucks operate overseas? The USA has banned B-Doubles operating across state borders and many countries in Europe have similarly followed this direction. Many ordinary motorists in the USA are overwhelmingly opposed to larger truck sizes and weights and claim that big trucks intimidate other drivers causing them to alter their driving patterns. Heavier trucks have also been banned recently on UK roads based on an independent report by the Transport Research Laboratory which found heavier vehicles would:
Does the community support the introduction of bigger trucks such as B-Triples? A public survey commissioned by the USA Coalition Against Bigger Trucks revealed that:
Just a thought - when passing a B-triple on the highway remember it is the equivalent length of six motor cars or one Boeing 737-300 series commercial aircraft. Do trucks pay to use Australia’s highways? Revised charges for heavy vehicles were introduced from 1 July 2008 as part of a three-year phase-in program. This ensures that heavy vehicles will pay their fair share of increased road spending by all levels of government. The charges are paid through registration fees and a net fuel charge. The new charges recognise that ‘governments previously had little incentive to upgrade and extend the road network for safe and more productive trucks if they don’t pay their way. B-doubles were previously cross-subsidised by (smaller trucks) by $16,000 per year’. The new charges eliminate cross subsidisation and the rail industry view is that governments should be moving towards mass-distance-location road freight user charges. Do freight rail operators pay to use the rail network? For access to the interstate tracks currently under Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) management, train operators pay a two-part access charge. This includes a fixed component (flagfall) and a mass distance charge based on the gross tonnage of the train multiplied by the distance travelled. Link Access charges for QR, RailCorp NSW and WA controlled rail corridors are set by the individual track owners. Does the Australian rail industry support the concept of integrated transport planning for interstate freight movements? The Australian rail industry supports a viable and efficient rail network as part of a national integrated freight transport network providing for:
Economical, environmental and social issues to be addressed include urban congestion, mobility, emissions and effects on health, noise, efficiency, safety and better infrastructure.
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