31 July 2009: Queensland: Ramp up rail!

[ozbob]

Media Release 31st July 2009

Queensland: Ramp up rail!

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport commuters has called for a redirection of funds from roads to rail.  It is clear that road transport is out of control in terms of the carnage and huge costs to our health system.  Environmental costs and impacts of road transport are mounting and will become an unmanageable liability.  Roads are being ruined by a shift from rail to roads of general freight.  Passenger rail needs a revitalisation and expansion.

Robert Dow, spokesperson for RAIL Back On Track said:

"The mounting death and injury toll on the roads confirms the failure of the road centric transport policy.  Rather than contemplating cutbacks on our general freight rail network there needs to be an expansion. Similarly rail grain and livestock transport needs proper resourcing and expansion."

"Passenger rail services, both suburban and rural need a revitalisation and increase in services (1)."

"Why are we continuing along a failed paradigm?  The evidence of the failure of transport policies over the last 50 years is abundant in terms of congestion costs, environmental costs and damage, and costs to the health sector.  Rail is at least 40 times safer than road transport. Why is the community continued to be subjected to the real and obvious dangers of road transport when there are much safer and more cost effective alternatives?"

"QR assets should be kept in public ownership (2).  A proper integrated network that we have now is the way to move forward.  Privatisation of rail assets has not worked anywhere. Rather than sell off our hard earned assets we should be expanding rapidly our rail services.  This will then position the state for a sustainable and affordable transport future.  As it is, we are heading 'faster than a speeding locomotive' into a failed transport state."

"QR also needs to refocus.  Rather than constant cutbacks QR needs to change its focus to constant expansion!"

References:

1.  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=2490.0

2.  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=2360.0

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org

[ozbob]

It seems there is a growing realisation that it is time for a change form road to sustainable transport options.

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Petrol tax rise urged to tackle traffic jams

Petrol tax rise urged to tackle traffic jams
Andrew West
July 31, 2009

DELEGATES at the national Labor conference will hear a radical proposal today to ease congestion in Australia?s cities by imposing an extra 15.5 per cent tax on petrol ? with the proceeds spent directly on public transport.

Graham Currie, who holds Australia?s only academic chair in public transport, at Monash University in Melbourne, will tell delegates that Australia has passed a tipping point, with urban congestion soaking up 2.6 per cent of national gross domestic product.

??Congestion is now a major constraint on the economy and it is only getting worse,?? Professor Currie said.

??Our congestion is now the worst in the developed world and decades of federal government policy on transport has only increased the crisis. We have tried to build our way out of the problem, by constructing more and more freeways, and it is just not working.??

Professor Currie, who has been advising the Federal Government on mass transit, will also recommend a moratorium on federal funding of urban road projects in favour of investment in trains and outer suburban buses. He said that in Melbourne a planned rail tunnel would carry as many passengers as 24 new freeway lanes.

At 2.6 per cent of GDP, congestion costs are higher than the OECD average (2 per cent), and much higher than in the United States (1.5 per cent).

The raw statistics that Professor Currie will present are even more sobering, with congestion costing Australia $12.8 billion a year, projected to rise to $30 billion a year by 2015 without urgent action.

He said the Rudd Government?s initial investment in urban transport would be unsustainable without a dedicated source of funds such as a petrol levy or congestion tax.

??Any taxes we raise should go not into general revenue but specifically on public transport to meet the growing demand,?? he said. ??We have to have a new approach that is revolutionary.??

Professor Currie acknowledged that any new levy on petrol was politically sensitive at a time of growing unemployment, especially if it applied universally to motorists, including those in regional areas who did not contribute to urban congestion.

As an alternative, he suggested congestion taxes on major roads in built-up areas.

But the Australian representative of the International Association of Public Transport, Peter Moore, said it was possible to impose a levy on petrol without hurting rural motorists. He said the government could offer exemptions in the same way that it provided fuel excise relief to drivers in the bush.

Mr Moore will also draw on the example of the US President, Barack Obama, who has a plan to rebuild America?s interstate passenger rail services, and renew the call for a fast train between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

He said that with nations trying to wean themselves off diminishing supplies of oil, the Rudd Government should commit itself to a high-speed rail corridor.

??A high-speed train would make it viable for people to commute to Sydney each day from Goulburn or even Canberra in 45 to 60 minutes, in the same way that Europeans commute to work in Brussels from Paris in 45 minutes,?? he said.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

[ozbob]

Some feedback received, thanks.

We are approaching the 30th anniversary of the first electrification of Brisbane suburban passenger services.

The last new railway opened was Nerang - Robina on 31 May 1998 - over 10 years ago.  An abysmal effort but understandable when one considers the focus has been on Busways.    [There are now two one-station sections under construction].

Since electrification started,  virtually all suburban sidings have been removed and what little public freight is handled is at Acacia Ridge.  The two operators don't haul anything to/from anywhere closer to Brisbane than Jondaryan and Macalister [coal] or Goondiwindi or Charleville [to west] or Biloela or Mackay to north.  The overhead wires between Nambour and Gympie North flex above two daily trains each way and between Gympie North and Gladstone one daily train [TILT].  Ipswich - Rosewood passenger services carry few non-school children.

In the 30 years, we have consistently been told that 'ONE MORE ROAD' will solve our congestion problems.

WHEN IS A POLITICIAN GOING TO HAVE THE COURAGE TO ADMIT THAT CARS EXPAND TO FILL THE AVAILABLE ROAD??

Why have there been so few additional services despite the construction of new trains?  One reason long ago was the replacement of diesel and cars+ railcars; then there was the extensions to Cleveland and Robina.  But what is the reason in the last 10 years

We still have the disgraceful half-hour frequency [on all 7 days].  What a great policy to save money for road building to have much of the rail fleet sitting at Mayne during the day.

[somebody]

Hate to nitpick, but was there a source for that quote?

[ozbob]

Hate to nitpick, but was there a source for that quote?

From a member who wishes to remain anonymous.  We receive a lot of feedback.

Cheers
Bob

[Jon Bryant]

I think it is a great quote and a campaign for recognition that we must not let die.  We have spent 40 years backing the wrong horse in a motor vehicle based transport system. It is time for all levels of Government and interest groups to take the blinkers off, take a good long look around and honestly state "What have we done?.  This is an absolute mess. It is time for a different approach"

[#Metro]

I wouldn't be offended either way if QR was 'degovernmentalised' (made a non-profit trust), mutualised (owned by its commuters) or privatised to a publicly owned company (open to anyone who is interested). I'm open to all solutions. Sometimes I think almost anything is better than what we have now.