Article: Pundits wrong, and we flock to trains

[ozbob]

From the Weekend Australian Railways Special Report 18th April 2009

Pundits wrong, and we flock to trains

Pundits wrong, and we flock to trains

John Hoyle

THE significant increase in rail passenger numbers in Australia's cities in the past few years has caught governments by surprise. Initially, rapidly increasing fuel prices prompted a surge in public transport numbers but other factors such as strong employment in central business districts, traffic congestion and scarcity and cost of city parking have come into play.

In March last year RailCorp, operator of Sydney's extensive CityRail network, reached a landmark when, for the first time, it carried one million passengers in one day. In 2007-08 RailCorp recorded 296 million passenger journeys, an increase of 5.2 per cent on the previous year.

Sydney is not alone in experiencing this growth. Melbourne's Metlink says the number of trips taken on the city's rail, tram and bus network grew by 11 per cent: 47.5million journeys in 2007-08, the first year the network has experienced double-digit growth. According to Metlink chief executive Bernie Carolan, last year 30 per cent of people decreased their car use and two-thirds of those people moved to public transport. Since 2005, the number of trips on Melbourne's rail system has risen by 46 per cent, a figure that has caught the Victorian government by surprise.

Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth also have all seen significant growth in this area and government policymakers, some of whom had assumed that there might a continuing decline in urban rail travel, were left stranded like whales on a beach.

This growth in commuter train travel is not confined to suburb to CBD journeys.

Regional Victorian passenger train operator V/Line is experiencing phenomenal growth on its intercity corridors linking Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and the LaTrobe Valley to Melbourne.

It carried 11.96 million passengers in 2007-08, up from 9.7 million in 2006-07. Victorian country trains are carrying the largest number of passengers since the 1940s, when wartime petrol shortages and troop movements strained what was then the Victorian Railways passenger network.

What has been the response by governments to this growth in rail passengers in capital cities? Most capital city rail networks had few spare passenger trains to return to service. An assumption that any rise in passenger numbers would be gradual, and the desire to sell off surplus trains to satisfy the accountants, caught rail authorities off guard. Melbourne had to repurchase trains it had sold for farm storage and other off-rail uses. Adelaide had stored railcars that it spruced up and put back in to service, but other capital cities have squeezed more people on existing peak period trains.

However, governments are finally recognising that the increase in rail passengers is here to stay and all state governments have orders or plans for new urban trains. Sydney is ordering 626 new carriages under a PPP arrangement with Reliance Rail for the CityRail network, the largest single contract for passenger cars in Australian rail history. The first of these is expected to be carrying Sydney commuters next year, and they cannot come too soon to service record passenger numbers and the recent opening of a new railway linking Chatswood with Epping.

In Brisbane, the re-elected Bligh Government recently ordered another 20 suburban trains for Brisbane's Citytrain network from the Maryborough-based Downer EDI Rail/Bombardier Joint Venture. They will follow the present order for 44 suburban trains. The same company is building 15 new trains for Perth, where they are needed to alleviate peak-period crowding. Melbourne is ordering 38 new trains from Alstom and plans to purchase further new trains as part of its Victorian Transport Plan.

Adelaide operates Australia's only diesel-powered capital city rail system, but the South Australian government plans to electrify most of the network, refurbish the fleet and expand itstrams.

Extra trains will be welcomed by commuters, but will there be enough tracks to accommodate them in peak periods? Since World War II, governments have focused on expanding their capital city road networks.

Rail expansion has been insignificant by comparison, despite notable achievements such as Melbourne's city loop, Sydney's Eastern Suburbs Railway, the reopening of a railway from Brisbane to the Gold Coast and Perth's impressive 72km Mandurah railway, opened in December 2007, which has captured many car commuters. The situation was not helped by the Howard government's decision to stop federal funding for urban public transport.

However, the trend back to public transport is forcing a policy rethink. Governments had assumed that new roads would be the highest priority for voters, but Metlink research shows that 92 per cent of Melburnians want more spent on public transport infrastructure.

The same research revealed that people prioritised public transport improvements ahead of tax cuts (61 per cent), reducing petrol prices (60per cent) and building new roads (58 per cent). These priorities are reflected in research in other cities and governments are scrambling to build new urban rail projects. These include Sydney's CBD-Rozelle Metro, Melbourne's long-awaited Epping-South Morang rail extension, Brisbane's Darra-Springfield railway, Adelaide's tramway extension to Hindmarsh stadium and Perth's Northern Suburbs Railway extension.

In a further boost for urban rail, the federal Government has decided that it will consider funding for rail expansion in our cities, and several city rail projects are short-listed with Infrastructure Australia, including a new underground railway in Brisbane, an east-west rail tunnel in Melbourne and an extension of Adelaide's Noarlunga line to Seaford.

However, Peter Moore, executive director of the International Association of Public Transport (Australia and New Zealand) says the political pendulum needs to swing further. Moore says Australia's transport budget needs to allocate two-thirds of the money to public transport and one-third to roads.

He says this is in line with budget allocations in many countries. To the baby boomer generation brought up on expanding car ownership and road networks, this call for a policy change may seem radical, yet US research indicates younger generations are more interested in electronic gadgets than cars.

Perhaps baby boomer-dominated governments will need to discard the roads-dominated mindset that has prevailed in their transport policies. Urban rail seems set to be at the centre of a new generation of political thinking.

[Jon Bryant]

Great arrticle.  The one weekend i don't buy the Australian.  Lets keep pushing the pendulum to swing!!!!