National Land Freight Strategy

[Fares_Fair]

National Land Freight Strategy submissions updated on Infrastructure Australia website today, Friday 17 June, 2011

Found here --> http://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/public_submissions/nlfs/index.aspx
Lots of interesting reading to be found.
Qld Dept of Transport and Main Roads had some remarks to make about this paper.


Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[Stillwater]

FF, it is interesting to see these words in the Queensland Department of Transport and main Roads submission to IA:

While Queensland supports 'in principle' greater interoperability of the network, the goals identified need to be practical. For example:  For rail, the feasibility of 2km trains, double stack, automatic train control, vertical/horizontal curvature standards needs to be considered in the context of retrofitting the existing rail system (cost, corridor characteristics, capacity, passenger etc).  All that's needed is a series of 2km train passing loops on the Sunshine Coast Line.

[Fares_Fair]

I checked out the Department of Defense paper submitted, but it is just a 1 page letter.
The fact that they responded to this strategy is enough to warrant further investigation.

I have long believed that there are also military and logistic reasons to pursue the duplication of the NCL.

It (heavy rail) was the primary mode of transport for heavy weapons, tanks, troops and materiel during World War II.
If there was ever to be an invasion of the north of Australia (pure speculation perhaps - think Norforce),
the NCL may be critical to a reasonably punctual response of military materiel and ordnance.

The time it would take a Chieftain tank to drive up the Bruce Highway would negate it's effectiveness.
Same for the numbers of trucks required and the resultant congestion it would cause.

It is an avenue to be pursued.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

Edit: additions in BOLD above. 8:30pm 18.06.2011

[Stillwater]

You are spot on, FF.  The state of Queensland's railway could hamper the next war effort, as it did the last time Australia faced its darkest hour.  And there is documented proof!

A paper by Mr Alan Whiting, a railway historian, discusses how a poor Queensland rail system hampered the war effort in World War II.  Mr Whiting wrote of the North Coast Line in 1939 this way: 'Much of the line had been built merely as short, cheaply constructed lines from one settlement to another with no long-term goal of a true main line.  Delays took place at crossing loops while oncoming trains slowly cleared the single track sections.'   (This was the case in WWII and remains today.)

Mr Whiting tells us that, at the outbreak of war, the then Queensland Government Railways 'believed the North Coast Line to have been saturated in its traffic capacity.'

It remains so today!

A Queensland Rail submission to Infrastructure Australia about the nation's future transport needs makes this observation: 'Train lengths on Queensland's North Coast Line are limited to the length of the smallest loop (currently 682m).  The prospect of a doubling of average freight train length on a rapidly growing and potentially rail-friendly corridor represents one of rail's most significant national productivity opportunities.'

In 1939, inadequate crossing loops on the North Coast Line hampered the battle for the nation's very existence and hindered the efficiency of the war effort.  Today the war is an economic one, yet government inaction in the area of rail infrastructure capacity on the North Coast Line continues to this day.

If you want to read Mr Whiting's account, go here:

http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:206853/s00855804_1993_15_2_94.pdf

[Stillwater]

Mr Whiting states that not one, but two Royal Commissions has spelled out the danger and inadequacies in the years leading to the war.  Yes, sadly, relatively speaking, Queensland's major rail line is in the same situation as it was 70 years ago.  Just how long does it take government to fix things.  Well, this government wants to push the solution out to 2031.  That's 90 years of inadequate infrastructure capacity on the Sunshine Coast and North Coast lines.  You weep when you read the reports and their blunt warnings to government ... page after page after page.

[Stillwater]

Some of the quotes from the Whiting paper are absolute gems:

'No other state in Australia had the same density of traffic on any 100 miles of railway
as the Brisbane-Maryborough section, 48 trains per day in May 1942.'  It remains the most overworked bit of single track in Australia, according to Dr Philip Laird.

Whiting also observed: '(In 1944) the Commonwealth then put forward a long term plan involving massive expenditure increasing the number and length of crossing loops and providing more powerful engines on the North Coast Line, none of which had any prospect of early implementation given the inability of either Q.G.R. or Commonwealth to provide the necessary manpower.'

Let's hope that Infrastructure Australia digs up the plans from the archives.  Sixty-seven years of waiting for more and longer crossing loops on the North Coast Line is long enough in anyone's language.

[Fares_Fair]

Hello SW,

Thank you for the information, it is fascinating reading to say the least.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[Stillwater]

Some more historical background:
http://espace.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:203553/s00855804_1990_14_1_1.pdf

[HappyTrainGuy]

Let's hope that Infrastructure Australia digs up the plans from the archives.  Sixty-seven years of waiting for more and longer crossing loops on the North Coast Line is long enough in anyone's language.

Kippa Ring. 

[Stillwater]

Forgot that one, lol.  When was it announced?  1920?  The planning offices of government departments must have grandfather clocks -- tick, tick, tick, tick tock.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Early/Mid 1890's I think it was first mentioned. Sun dial maybe *silence*

[Fares_Fair]

John Harrison's famous longitude problem solving clock was first successfully trialled in 1735.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.
It was made of wood and could run for 8 days without rewinding.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[colinw]

Early/Mid 1890's I think it was first mentioned. Sun dial maybe *silence*

1890s is about right.  Apparently Redcliffe State High School occupies the site that was resumed for Redcliffe station.