Strategies
In the short term we can introduce a rolling highway.
Other practical strategies for passenger mode shift are outlined in Solutions: Rolling Highway
In the long term we need competitive neutrality
“Today, federal and state government policies are turbo-charging the roll-out of bigger dimension and heavier trucks with greater access to federal, state and council roads; encouraging an explosion of truck trips over a wider range of routes and distances.”
“Australian roads and highways are fast becoming conveyor belts for millions of kilometres of truck movements for freight which should be transported by rail. In the past, trucks have provided the ‘first and last mile’ portion of the freight journey. Years of regulatory reform has facilitated a dominance of trucks on many routes which should be serviced by rail.”
Dean Dalla Valle, CEO Pacific National, Rail Express 15/3/19
“There is a rapidly growing policy divide between road and rail freight. As rail freight operators, all we ask for from government is a level policy playing field – give us a chance to compete on equal policy terms.”
Dean Dalla Valle, CEO Pacific National, Rail Express 27/3/19
Extract below from Value of Rail The contribution of rail in Australia. Deloitte Access Economics, 2017, p.58
"modal neutrality when making investment decisions between road and rail is important because it allows resources to be distributed in the most efficient manner possible. However, road and rail projects are often developed independently, and other factors such as politics can enter the decision making process.
A challenge for rail is that many of the benefits of investing in rail can take a long time to materialise. This can disadvantage rail - particularly if decisions are being made for political reasons. Short term election cycles can mean that there is an incentive to deviate from long term investment decision making processes, and in some cases too much funding may be direct to projects which are not the best solution to the transport projects.
Where modal neutrality is not maintained, the transport system is not built in an integrated manner. This creates challenges in the future because the transport network has not been built for the long term, and renewed investment is needed. Discrete parts of the network, built from a number of smaller projects, do not run together as well as they could in a system where long term, network wide planning was implemented.
The challenge of making mode neutral investments is made harder by the lack of a level playing field between road and rail in terms of charging and cost recovery. This issue is particularly prominent in freight where most rail freight networks operate at or near full cost recovery while road freight networks tend to receive some cross-subsidy from passenger travel. Going further, many of the externalities caused by road are not accurately priced (for instance congestion, accidents, and greenhouse gas emissions).
Addressing these issues requires significant policy changes across the full spectrum of rail and road pricing regulation which is a challenge, particularly given it would fundamentally shift how Australians use the transport system."
What are the practical longer term solutions for freight?
Incentives are needed for mode shift
Reform rail pricing fees
" ‘Charges for access to the rail network constitute around 30% of our total cost base, and the rates are adjusted upwards annually. The reality is that we pay around two or three times more to the government in access charges than the road hauliers on a per-tonne basis. The gap is growing, and our market share is declining.’
Pacific National CEO Dean Della Valle
Invest in state of the art intermodal facilities
At the moment most rail freight is point to point.
It is limited to vertical transhipment: ie, forklifts and reachstackers lifting FCL [1] containers at Port Botany and other intermodals in the Sydney area. Most of these containers then go by truck to western Sydney where they are lifted again.
This restricts rail shipment to diesel powered locomotives
We need to scope intermediate intermodal
It allows for greater flexibility: ie horizontal transshipment under wires.
Examples of innovative intermodal.
Pallets: LessThanWagonLoad : A prototype automated system for loading pallets onto rail wagons.
(The standard pallet size in Australia is 1165 mm x 1165 mm; a 20ft container has capacity for 10 pallets)
Bulk Materials: TLO - train loading system (bulk materials)
Ballast Transport Systems (could be adapted for intermodal)
Container Mover (video)
Innovatrain (video)
Disincentives for Mode Shift to Rail
Reform road pricing system: distance, time and location based rather than on a one off rego / fuel excise charge. This requires system-wide changes but will have the effect of rebalancing the competitiveness of different modes
First, use annual odometer readings but make it optional. People can choose the old system, and for flexibility have GPS system which only stores kms and not temporal-spatial data (so no privacy issues).
Later introduce distance, time and location based charges in addition to first step .
So if you then want to drive your car to Blackheath for the weekend you will pay extra, OR if you take the train you will pay nothing.
A full discussion of road pricing is not within the scope of this website. Not yet. One good source is "Road pricing and road provision in Australia: Where are we and how did we get here?" by M de Percy in Road Pricing and Provision, ANU Press, 2018.