30 Jan 2011: SEQ: Time to get more from our scarce taxes

[ozbob]

Media release 30 January 2011

SEQ:  Time to get more from our scarce taxes

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 said that the pressure on Government budgets from the recent floods demands we build/re-build a more efficient transport network rather than continue the mistakes of the past.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"We have already expressed our disappointment that the Cross River Rail (CRR) project is to be delayed and welcomed the commitment to maintaining other major rail infrastructure building projects (1)."

A recent Australian Financial Review article (Roads lobby has it all wrong - 24 January 2011) highlights that

    * rail is much cheaper to power, puts out minimal pollution, has a small land footprint, and is up to 50 times less likely (depending on configuration) to cause deaths and injuries per tonne of passengers and freight carried;

    * numerous recent studies by the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, the Victorian Metropolitan Transport Forum, and a few professors Bill Russell, John Stanley, and Henry Ergas demonstrate that many large road projects have negative returns;

    * the single-occupant motor vehicle (90 per cent of peak traffic) is economically the most inefficient transport mechanism ever devised. Compared with trains, which can handle 1000 commuters each, trams with 240, and buses with 40 to 80, private cars eat money, time, and government budgets; and

    * per head of population, both gross domestic product and productivity are going backwards. Both COAG and Infrastructure Australia have the chance to redeem this situation by diverting scarce funds from inefficient freeway and motorway projects to higher-speed and more frequent passenger and freight rail.


"RAIL Back On Track has previously highlighted the cost of road trauma at a staggering $40 billion a year (2).  A figure that makes the Government's Flood Levy look like loose change.  We also continue to highlight that it is time for our Governments to accept that today's traffic congestion is actually the result of the road infrastructure built over the last 40 years and not because of the latest missing link, no new bypass or not enough upgrades.  Claiming more roads will reduce congestion is like smoking more cigarettes expecting it to cure lung cancer.  The only outcome of building more freeways and tunnels is worse congestion and slower traffic speeds (3,4)."

"At a time when funds are scarce due to natural disasters it is time to stop wasting money on inefficient freeway and motorway projects and maintain/redirect funding for rail, public and active transport infrastructure."

"An excellent example of recent flawed thinking was the proposal to build an extension of the Kingsford Smith Drive in the Brisbane River!  Recent events have no doubt dampened that brain-snap, what is achievable though is in a cost effective manner is to use the existing rail corridor, the Doomben line and a further extension to Hamilton North Shore (5,6).  Where do they get their planners from?"

References:

1. 28 Jan 2011 Position Statement - Cross River Rail delayed - http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5346.0

2. 9 Sep 2010: SEQ: Rail is the way forward for a real future - http://www.railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=4383.0

3. 6 Nov 2010: SEQ: Zero time left to can congestion - http://www.railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=4794.0

4. 4 Oct 2010: SEQ: 'I will be late, stuck in traffic gridlock'  - http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=4568.0

5. 16 Nov 2010 SEQ: The next station ... is North Shore - http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=4857.0

6. 29 Dec 2010 SEQ: "Car rapid transit" is NOT the only option for Kingsford Smith Drive - http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5166.0

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org