Safety and Freight

the header image shows 30m B doubles which will be allowed all the way
from Lithgow to Sydney if this road goes ahead, including all trucks carrying fuel and hazardous goods!

Freight

Trucks are part of the cause of congestion. Cars also cause congestion.

Freight forwarders need reliable transit time: if they miss their allocated time at Port Botany they have to pay demurrage fees, or additional drayage costs. Road congestion is the main cause of unreliable travel times. Trains are more reliable because they have timetabled transit paths. At port issues with drayage can be fixed if more services are provided, and if intermodal facilities are improved, especially at hinterland terminals.

"Pacific National CEO Dean Dalla Valle said the efficient running of regional freight trains in and out of Port Botany needs to be a top priority for the NSW government in its third term, stating, "It’s now or never. ... [the government needs to ] Actively support the establishment of a network of intermodal freight hubs (where trains and trucks meet to exchange containers) in Western Sydney; a region with a high concentration of distribution centres and warehouses." Source

"Stakeholders consulted highlighted that infrastructure at port, rather than infrastructure in the region, was a barrier to the use of rail. (Containerised cargo demand assessment: Central West NSW. TfNSW, p.39)

"Transporting freight on the rail network significantly improves efficiency, congestion and sustainability, especially around major trade gateways." Source

Some of the freight going over the mountains should not be. It should be going via the Hunter Valley. The freight from the Central West / Orana due for export should (in the near future) be going to the Port of Newcastle! The NSW Container and Port Policy Port of Newcastle March 2018 policy says so.

Exporters in Dubbo have said they would use Newcastle if they could. And they would nearly halve their costs. Dubbo exporters could use Newcastle Port option in the future if ACCC action is successful.

Fletcher International is now in the Rail Business
Mr. Fletcher decided to buy into rail transport because of current inefficiencies and the age of the hardware available, "We were completely at the mercy of the transport companies so we ended up putting our own siding in and we can do a lot more products," he said. (2015)

"It is possible to carry LDHV [low density high value] goods by intermodal rail in a cost-efficient manner"

Excerpts from reports follow:

• "Road freight costs have been calculated to be more than 6 times greater than rail in urban areas and 10 times greater in rural areas" ( Source: Laird, P. 2005 Revised land freight external costs in Australia. Research Online ).

• “The bias in user charging that favours the heaviest vehicles is large and occurs in more ways than is commonly realised" Source :Submission by ARA to Productivity Commission

Practical Examples showing quick and easy intermodal operations ( including LCL: "less than container load" and pallet-by-pallet).

• "InnovaTrain/ Railcare study proved that it is possible for rail to compete directly with road transport in terms of reliability, service quality and cost." Source 2018

  • • • "By making rail terminal as an enabler, the research suggests that it is possible to carry LDHV goods by intermodal rail in a cost-efficient manner"

      • Cost-saving transhipment method (Innovatrain)

      • Automatic Train Wagons Loading and Unloading from Ancra Systems (Youtube), including ability to transfer partial batches of palletised goods.

      • Metrocargo: "door to door intermodal logistics" (Youtube)

      • Container mover (Youtube)

      • Pallet Handling Transfer Car (Youtube)

      • Animation (Youtube)

“Containerised cargo demand assessment Central West NSW” Transport for NSW, 2015)

• "With the right infrastructure in place in the region, it is conceivable that major inbound containerised volumes of generic products could be transported by rail in the future. Commodities that are inputs to production meet these criteria." p.11

• "Stakeholders consulted highlighted that infrastructure at port, rather than infrastructure in the region, was a barrier to the use of rail. .... Additionally, importers identified current customs and quarantine procedures as inhibiting factors." p. 39-40

• “…there is likely to be an overall reduction in the number of net tonne kilometres travelled by truck, offset by an increase in rail transport. … Due to lower supply chain costs, which are likely to lead to lower prices of goods, … benefits from a reduction in air pollution, … from fewer net tonne kilometres travelled by road, reducing overall noise. … fewer net tonne kilometres travelled by road, there are fewer trucks and therefore lower congestion." p.43-5

Large companies already use rail

“customers that have facilities located along the rail line (such as Woolworths, Samsung, Sunbeam, Breville, Bunnings, Kmart, Coles, LG, Asics and Unilever)”. p.27 NSW Container and Port Policy Port of Newcastle March 2018

"Woolworths is dedicated to using rail because of the social and community benefits of doing so. In Woolworths’ 2020 social strategy, it has set a target of reducing carbon emissions by 10 per cent (compared with 2015 levels), and rail is a key part of achieving that goal " {Deloitte, p. 44]

In Victoria ...

"Ouyen Intermodal Project, backed by local development organisation Ouyen Inc, hopes to remove roughly 9,000 trucks off rural roads in the region with five weekly train services between Ouyen and the Port of Melbourne".

Ouyen is a town of only 1,100 people.

Victorian government extends freight subsidy for another year (June 2020)

Victorian government extends freight subsidy into 2023

"Victoria’s budget for 2022-23 includes A$181m for maintenance of the regional rail freight network, and A$3·5m to extend the Mode Shift Incentive Scheme which supports intermodal terminals and removes the equivalent of 28 000 lorry trips per year."

In Norway "groceries, medicine, mail, and all kinds of everyday stuff" is transported by rail

"Approximately 50 to 60 per cent of the goods between Oslo and the biggest cities of Southern Norway, such as Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim are transported on rails. Between Oslo and Northern Norway, to the coastal cities of Bodø and Narvik, these numbers are up to 80-90 per cent." Source

Bergen is about 450km from Oslo by road. More than half the general freight travels by rail.
Dubbo is about 400km from both Port Botany and Newcastle by road. Hardly any general freight travels by rail.

Why can Norway do this and not NSW?

France
Glass Train project puts more Nestlé bottles on rail
‘from now on our Vittel and San Pellegrino branded bottled mineral water will be carried mainly by train’.

Ethiopian avocados exported by train

Any committed Initiatives in NSW????

NSW Freight and Ports Plan 2018-2023 p.63

"Upgrades to Main West Line

Upgrade the railway line between Orange and the Blue Mountains for freight and passengers (delivery underway, 0-2 years)."

Where are these upgrades? Surely they don't mean a couple of passing loops???

EU Statistics from 2010 below (Source)

Where are the petrol tankers going to go (they are banned from tunnels)?

What about other hazardous goods?

"Roughly 20% or less [trucks] are dangerous goods – mainly fuel tankers."

20% of trucks - those carrying fuel and other hazardous goods - will still have to go through Blackheath.

The trend line for accidents (and fatalities) involving heavy vehicles in the conurbation of Sydney is up (pages 8-10 of Heavy vehicle trauma trends TfNSW 2017, no more recent data available)

Road vs rail – Comparing the state of public safety awareness

ATSB’s 2012 report on rail safety found that there was a total of 350 rail fatalities in Australia from July 2002 to 30 June 2012. Although this represents less than 2% of the corresponding figure for road fatalities (even taking into account vehicle kms of each mode)

"More than 1,150 people died on the nation’s roads in 2014 compared to just 36 from trains, ships and aircraft combined." Source: BITRE

Questions

What is the return on the investment to money spent on making roads safer?
How much has been spent on the GWH since 1980?
How much has been spent on road safety programs like Towards Zero, since 1980?

If that money had been spent on upgrading the main west rail line would we be even talking about "upgrading" the road between Lithgow and Katoomba.
No! We would have a situation like we have in Finland. Go to Congestion and scroll down to the section on Finland (where the video is) and you will understand.

Compare the accident rate of road traffic (6 months) v. rail traffic (for 20 years) on the GWH ....HERE

Why aren't B Doubles allowed on the US interstate system?

Read this account by a police officer on his experience in California.

In the USA, Federal regulation prohibits vehicles above 80,000 pounds - equal to 36.3 tons on our B-doubles (up to 26m) - from using most of the Federal Interstate highway system. In NSW for 25/6 metre B-double with 9 axle the limit is 62.5 tons.

Those who have travelled on the Interstate Highways in the US know that they are of a standard equivalent to the upgraded dual carriageway between Brisbane and Melbourne, and yet B doubles are not allowed.

Sources
https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/publications/size_regs_final_rpt/index.htm#ttst

https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/policy/rpt_congress/truck_sw_laws/app_a.htm#ca

Further Reading

Too many loads on our roads when rail is the answer

Two Case Studies on Road vs. Rail Freight Costs (PC report commissioned by PN)

" ...rail has a decisive advantage with respect to usage costs associated with linehaul. This conclusion is robust to large variations in the assumed infrastructure wear and tear costs for road and rail, meaning that less turns on the outcome of current debates on that question.

Rail also appears to have a significant advantage with respect to vehicle capacity costs for containerised and non-bulk freight, when these are considered on a life-cycle basis, applying the same discount rate to trucks as to trainsets."

Figures don't add up when it comes to rail versus road