Statement: Freight on the move

[ozbob]

Media Statements
Minister for Transport and Main Roads
The Honourable Scott Emerson
Thursday, December 12, 2013

Freight on the move

The Newman Government has developed a clear direction to guide Queensland's growing freight industry by increasing rail use and creating a more efficient road network.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Scott Emerson said the Moving Freight Strategy, endorsed by several peak industry organisations, identifies 38 actions to meet the freight demand over the next 10 years.

"Freight volumes in Queensland are expected to increase from 871 million tonnes in 2010-11 to 1643-1741 million tonnes by 2026," Mr Emerson said.

"That will be the annual equivalent of 21.7 million more truck trips on our roads or 174,000 more freight train trips on our network.

"The previous government failed to plan for future growth, but we promised at the election to deliver better planning and infrastructure.

"If we don't put a clear plan in place our network will grind to a halt, unable to cope with the increase in demand.

"Actions identified to get more freight on to rail and reduce road congestion include preserving train paths on regional rail lines for agricultural freight and undertaking a pre-feasibility study for a new rail freight terminal on the north side of Brisbane.

"Already we have announced up to $50 million on additional passing loops and $17 million to lower train tunnels enabling the agricultural industry to use larger containers through the Toowoomba Range and Lockyer Valley.

"We have also increased cattle services from Winton to Brisbane and Cloncurry to Brisbane.

"In order to better support the road freight network we are looking at reducing red tape for heavy freight vehicle permits and investigating upgrades to key freight routes on the Flinders/Barkly highways, Warrego Highway, Capricorn Highway and Peak Downs/Gregory highways.

"Queensland's freight network is critical to our economy and plays a valuable part in each of the four pillars of tourism, agriculture, resources and construction, that we promised to grow."

The primary freight network is made up of 13,600km of road, 9,550km of rail line, 15 trading ports, three international airports as well as multiple domestic airports and freight terminals.

Mr Emerson said the freight industry was fully supportive of the Moving Freight Strategy.

Neil Findlay from Queensland Transport and Logistics Council offered his support in a submission to the draft strategy, saying "The collaborative approach to developing Moving Freight between government and industry has enabled the identification of real freight issues and challenges."

Another of the industry's major bodies, AgForce Queensland said "This will ensure long term access for Agricultural freight on rail, the reduction of red tape and improvement of the road network."

A copy of the Moving Freight strategy is available online at www.tmr.qld.gov.au/movingfreight

[ENDS] 12 December 2013 

[Jonno]

Finally rail at the forefront of a freight strategy !  Implementation is light on actual rail improvements though !

[Stillwater]

It is a plan to do nothing concrete on the ground.  Looking five years out, the so-called 'actions' are all worded along the lines of 'work with industry on identifying priority measures for blah, blah, blah.'

Nowhere does the document state what infrastructure improvements will be made, and by when.

For example it does not state things like 'we will build 10 new long passing loops on the North Coast line by 2015 to allow trains of 1km length to operate between Rockhampton and Brisbane.'

There is hope of improvements between Brisbane and Toowoomba, and that is to be applauded.  The document, therefore, becomes an arse-covering exercise when communities outside that corridor says 'what about us?'.  What about us?  The government answer can be 'we are working constructively with industry to identify priority projects for improving rail freight capacity on the such-and-such line.'

This document needs to be fleshed out with a rail infrastructure plan linked to a budget.  Where is it?

[ozbob]

Queensland Times --> Landmark freight reforms aim for real traffic changes

DECREASING congestion for families on Queensland roads is the major goal of landmark freight transport reforms which will be announced today.

Key aspects of the State Government's Moving Freight Strategy include preserving train paths on regional rail lines for non-coal freight, ensuring rail access for agriculture, making major freights routes more resilient to floods and natural disasters and better collection and analysis of freight data

Transport Minister Scott Emerson said the Transport Housing and Local Government Committee would deliver a report aimed at taking trucks off the roads and improving the use of rail for the growing freight industry.

"Our landmark Moving Freight report shows that freight volumes in Queensland are expected to double to about 1700 million tonnes in 2026," he said.

"That will be the annual equivalent of 21.7 million more truck trips on our roads or 174,000 more freight train trips on our network."

Mr Emerson said the Moving Freight Strategy had received endorsements from several peak industry organisations and identifies 38 actions needed to meet the freight demand over the next decade.

He said the report would outline the short, medium and long-term actions needed to move freight onto rail and improve the efficiency of road freight.

"Our strong plan is already delivering real outcomes with $50 million being invested in two additional passing loops on the Toowoomba Range and $17 million to lower train tunnels enabling the agricultural industry to use larger containers through the Toowoomba Range and Lockyer Valley," he said.

"We have also increased cattle services from Winton to Brisbane and Cloncurry to Brisbane."

Mr Emerson said Queensland's primary freight network is made up of 13,600 km of road, 9,550 km of rail line, 15 trading ports, three international airports as well as multiple domestic airports and freight terminals.

[Stillwater]

It is a plan to plan.  There is no plan to allocate funds to implement what is planned. 

Perhaps this indicates the seriousness with which the state government is viewing the matter.  One objective (for the North Coast Line, in particular) is:

"Assess opportunities to segregate the passenger and freight network
in the metropolitan network."

The timing?  Six to 10 years -- and that is just the time taken to 'assess opportunities', not to execute them.  This seems like a plan you have to say that you have one -- a Claytons Freight Strategy.

[ozbob]

Queensland Country Life --> Ag freight goes off the rails

Ag freight goes off the rails

Ag freight goes off the rails

Member for Warrego Howard Hobbs said Queensland's rail network is a shambles.

SHAMBOLIC, outdated, inefficient, unreliable and inflexible.

These are just some of the words that Howard Hobbs MP used to describe Queensland's rail freight service as he handed down the final recommendations from a parliamentary inquiry to ways to incentivise the agricultural and livestock industries to use more rail freight.

The Member for Warrego tabled the final report from the Parliamentary Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee (THLG) in State Parliament today, calling upon the government to act now to fix rail freight services across Queensland.

"Rail service to the agricultural sector is currently in a shambles; infrastructure is out-dated and inefficient; there is limited access to train paths; serious inefficiencies in the supply chain; and the above all the rail service is inefficient, unreliable and inflexible," Mr Hobbs said.

"The THLG Committee has been disturbed by reports of either no rail freight service – even where rail lines exist - or slow and unreliable rail services for the non-mining sector."

Mr Hobbs said the Queensland Government needed to act immediately if it was genuine about doubling the value of Queensland's food production by 2040 to respond to global food demand.

He said THLG committee found projected agricultural growth would place an enormous burden on the state's already congested roads unless rail infrastructure was modernised and brought into the twenty-first century.

"Doing nothing is not an option," Mr Hobbs said.

"The report states the current freight system will not cope with the forecast demand and roads will quickly reach capacity."

"The Port of Brisbane Motorway is estimated to reach full capacity by 2026.

"Rail freight is the only solution – a single grain train can take at least 500 trucks off the road.

"Given the predicted growth in the freight business it would seem evident that rail freight can be transformed into a commercially viable business.

The THLG committee made a total of 45 recommendations on rail freight including:
The creation of a bipartisan, high-level Freight Authority to be headed up by an executive officer
The establishment of an independent Infrastructure Taskforce reporting to the Minister for Transport and Main Roads to oversee the development and implementation of a state-wide rail infrastructure plan
That the Infrastructure Taskforce give high priority to the development of a rail infrastructure master plan for the South West, Western and West Moreton lines to provide certainty for the agricultural and livestock sectors
That the Queensland Government work closely with the Federal Inland Rail Implementation Group to prioritise the Inland Rail Project
That the Infrastructure Taskforce investigate the potential of a privately funded extension of the Inland Rail line to the Surat Basin coal mines and ensure such an extension provided opportunities for agricultural commodities to be freighted to the Port of Brisbane
That the subsidy of livestock rail freight through a Transport Services Contract (TSC) continue and enable greater flexibly and responsiveness to industry, including split loads and smaller trains
That the subsidy for general freight continues until such time as the general freight becomes competitive and commercially viable
That the benefits of additional subsides for the freight of non-livestock agricultural products such as cotton, grain and sugar be investigated
page 2

"Doing nothing is not an option," Mr Hobbs said.

"The report states the current freight system will not cope with the forecast demand and roads will quickly reach capacity."

"The Port of Brisbane Motorway is estimated to reach full capacity by 2026.

"Rail freight is the only solution – a single grain train can take at least 500 trucks off the road.

"Given the predicted growth in the freight business it would seem evident that rail freight can be transformed into a commercially viable business.

The THLG committee made a total of 45 recommendations on rail freight including:
The creation of a bipartisan, high-level Freight Authority to be headed up by an executive officer
The establishment of an independent Infrastructure Taskforce reporting to the Minister for Transport and Main Roads to oversee the development and implementation of a state-wide rail infrastructure plan
That the Infrastructure Taskforce give high priority to the development of a rail infrastructure master plan for the South West, Western and West Moreton lines to provide certainty for the agricultural and livestock sectors
That the Queensland Government work closely with the Federal Inland Rail Implementation Group to prioritise the Inland Rail Project
That the Infrastructure Taskforce investigate the potential of a privately funded extension of the Inland Rail line to the Surat Basin coal mines and ensure such an extension provided opportunities for agricultural commodities to be freighted to the Port of Brisbane
That the subsidy of livestock rail freight through a Transport Services Contract (TSC) continue and enable greater flexibly and responsiveness to industry, including split loads and smaller trains
That the subsidy for general freight continues until such time as the general freight becomes competitive and commercially viable
That the benefits of additional subsides for the freight of non-livestock agricultural products such as cotton, grain and sugar be investigated

[ozbob]

The Observor --> Transporters laugh off new rail proposal

[Golliwog]

The Observor --> Transporters laugh off new rail proposal

The problem is the road freight network is developing a whole series of issues due to the age of the network. Look at Mackay and whats happening with the Vines Creek bridges:

http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Projects/Name/V/Vines-Creek-Bridges-Mackay-Slade-Point-Road-Mackay.aspx

Temporary traffic changes have been implemented as immediate action, and involve the following measures:

    Reduce each bridge to 1 lane centreline travel.
    Reduce the speed from 80km/h to 40km/h to reduce dynamic loadings.
    Prohibit all cranes from crossing the structure.
    Apply a load limit to over mass vehicles to 12 tonne per line or B class bridge loads.

Mackay Slade Point Road is the sole access to the Mackay Harbour and over 15,400 vehicles per day use this route with about 1,400 of these being heavy vehicles. Replacing these structures would allow HML loads which would increase capacity and efficiency of bulk commodity transport to and from the Mackay Port.

This is on the main road connecting the port of Mackay to the Bruce Highway.

There may be issues and costs associated with moving back to rail, but a serious and frank discussion needs to be had about the cost of continuing down the road freight path we've been on and do a proper comparison.

[ozbob]

Fully Loaded --> Qld should look to rail supply chain efficiency first: report