Feature: High Speed Freight Rail

[#Metro]

Gareth Evans: What is Eurotunnel planning and how will it fit into the wider picture of the European freight rail market?

John Keefe: Putting it simply, we want to develop rail freight through the tunnel. Over the last few years, the rate of (European freight rail) growth has been negative, so we've taken the view that if nobody else was going to do it, we'd do it ourselves – even if we're not in a position to reveal the overall strategic timescale just yet.

Australia is a pretty big country and freight growth is set to increase... just an idea..

http://www.railway-technology.com/features/feature82149/

[Golliwog]

Australia is a pretty big country and freight growth is set to increase... just an idea..

Thats part of the problem with this. To run high speed rail, you need to have your tracks at a much higher quality than for standard trains. Which means conducting maintenance along the whole length of track far more frequently than currently happens. Plus most turn-outs and intersections would likely need to be replaced with those that can be used at high speeds.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying its a bad idea, but unless they can guarantee that it will be used by a sufficient amount of freight I can't see this as being economically viable. Given the lack of track space in major cities that is for use purely by freight trains (in Brisbane at least anyway) that isn't shared with commuter trains, this would also put restaints on how frequently you could run trains on these high speed sections.

[somebody]

The best fix would to charge trucks for the damage that they do, i.e. trauma, road maintenance pollution.

[#Metro]

Thats part of the problem with this. To run high speed rail, you need to have your tracks at a much higher quality than for standard trains. Which means conducting maintenance along the whole length of track far more frequently than currently happens. Plus most turn-outs and intersections would likely need to be replaced with those that can be used at high speeds.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying its a bad idea, but unless they can guarantee that it will be used by a sufficient amount of freight I can't see this as being economically viable. Given the lack of track space in major cities that is for use purely by freight trains (in Brisbane at least anyway) that isn't shared with commuter trains, this would also put restraints on how frequently you could run trains on these high speed sections.

No-body has done the analysis. It is too early to tell.
It sure will be more viable than passenger fast rail!

Freight is set to grow 50% in coming years. High speed freight is just what is needed for mass transport at high speed because right now it is either fast and low volume (aircraft), or high volume but slow (ship, road, current rail).

[Golliwog]

I know no one has done the study into it, but its still going to be an expensive thing to do. They would definatly have to find a new route to follow or redesign the current one as the curves and their respective cants would not be designed to allow high speeds. Given the jobs this would cause to be lost in the trucking industry, I doubt the government would go for it. Perhaps private industry?

[Emmie]

I keep thinking - isn't it lucky that the volcano shut down flights in Europe - and NOT in Australia or America, neither of which have a rail system that bears comparison with the European one.

It would be nice to think that this disruption will lead more people to think about planning for a future without sufficient aviation fuel.

[#Metro]

New Zealand has volcanoes... if the wind were blowing the right way maybe we could find ourselves in the same position?

[Golliwog]

I keep thinking - isn't it lucky that the volcano shut down flights in Europe - and NOT in Australia or America, neither of which have a rail system that bears comparison with the European one.

It would be nice to think that this disruption will lead more people to think about planning for a future without sufficient aviation fuel.

Hate to break it to you Emmie, but I'm stuck over here in Europe atm. Yes, they do have pretty damn awesome trains, but the best train network in the world won't help you when the French trains have been on strike for about a week now. I was at the Barcelona train station yesterday and the next free seat on the limited sevices to Paris that were operating was not until the 27th of april.

[frereOP]

New Zealand has volcanoes... if the wind were blowing the right way maybe we could find ourselves in the same position?

Ha, maybe if the Earth stopped rotating east to west and started rotating west to east it might happen.  Under surrent circumstances, a dust cloud would eventually make its way around the globe from NZ to Oz but it would take a few weeks.  However, the basic premise raised is an important one.