ARA - Enough on roads, what about rail Abbott?

[ozbob]

http://www.ara.net.au/UserFiles/file/Media%20Releases/13-07-17%20Enough-on-roads-what-about-rail-Abbott.docx.pdf

17 July 2013

Enough on roads, what about rail Abbott?

The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) has expressed serious concern over the Coalition government's continuous support of upgrading and building new roads whilst ignoring the needs of rail.

ARA CEO Bryan Nye said he was disappointed in the short sighted, quick fix approach the Coalition government is promoting as their solution to address state based infrastructure issues, with Tony Abbott announcing today a commitment of $6.7 billion to fix the Bruce Highway.

"Australia as a nation is facing increasingly serious economic, social and environmental problems with traffic congestion clogging our roads, transport emissions choking our urban environment, fuel prices spiking and the continued growth of our major cities," said Mr Nye.

"The Coalition government's continued band-aid approach of throwing money at building, expanding and duplicating roads will not address any of the national issues are affecting all Australians.

"Australia needs to invest in an integrated transport system that links our roads, rail and ports.

"How can our supply chain operate effectively when only one link is being utilised? Choosing to only invest in roads will see more cars and trucks on our roads and is not the long term solution Australia needs," said Mr Nye.

"The average passenger train can take 525 cars off the road, the focus needs to shift to finding solutions for the bigger picture problems.

"Tony Abbott has blocked funding for major rail projects in Victoria, Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland – Australia's most congested states – because the Coalition government has "no history of funding urban rail projects".

"This short sighted, old-fashioned approach to infrastructure funding will stifle productivity and efficiency in the transport sector and ultimately disadvantage the Australian people.

"By committing this money to the upgrade of the Bruce Highway, Mr Abbott is turning his back on other Queensland infrastructure projects like the Brisbane Cross River Rail, a project endorsed by Infrastructure Australia in its National Infrastructure Plan and set to increase public transport capacity by around 30 per cent to inner Brisbane, that's nearly 120,000 people," said Mr Nye.

"Leaving public transport solely to the states whilst continuing to fund road projects makes no sense- there is simply no way to coordinate, prioritise and build the public transport our cities need without involvement at a federal level", Mr Nye concluded.

- ENDS-

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Railway industry takes Abbott to task as new freight rail section opens http://www.tandlnews.com.au/2013/07/18/article/railway-industry-takes-abbott-to-task-as-new-freight-rail-section-opens/ ... #auspol #qldpol #springst