Article: Wooden sleepers plan 'off the rails'

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Wooden sleepers plan 'off the rails'

Wooden sleepers plan 'off the rails'
September 25, 2012 Adam Carey

THE Baillieu government has been accused of condemning central Victorian train travellers to slower journeys and damaging the environment in a bid to save money as it rehabilitates the Seymour railway line.

Thousands of degraded wooden sleepers on the regional line are being replaced with new wooden sleepers harvested from redgum forests in New South Wales, after the government opted not to lay concrete sleepers because of higher cost and pressure from freight rail operators.

Concrete sleepers are held to be superior to wooden ones because they last more than three times longer, which makes them environmentally friendlier, and because they enable trains to run at faster speeds.

Tens of thousands of old wooden sleepers in Melbourne and regional Victoria have been replaced with concrete sleepers in recent years. They enable V/Line trains to travel up to 30km/h faster and release as little as a fifth of the carbon emissions over their 60-year lifespan compared with wooden sleepers over the same time.

About 52,000 sleepers are being replaced along the Seymour line as part of a $9 million upgrade, but about 25,000 of them will be wooden.

''Due to funding constraints in the 2012-13 budget the use of concrete sleepers was changed to timber so the project could be completed,'' a V/Line spokesman said. ''It is our preference where feasible to lay concrete sleepers on our network. This reduces maintenance requirements in the years ahead.''

The NSW timber sleepers cost $69 each, while concrete sleepers are made in Victoria at a cost of $95 to $135 each.

Nick Roberts, the Victorian National Parks Association's redgum and river rescue project co-ordinator, slammed the decision.

''Use of wooden sleepers from poorly managed forests in New South Wales contributes to impacts on threatened species, land degradation and water quality,'' Mr Roberts said. ''Timber is the third-rate country cousin to concrete and locks in slower rail services with more maintenance and delays.''

Public Transport Users Association regional spokesman Paul Westcott said Seymour travellers were being consigned to a slower service than other Victorian lines that had concrete sleepers.

''New wooden sleepers are better than rotten ones,'' Mr Westcott said. ''But if they want to really upgrade it equivalent to the regional fast rail tracks then clearly wooden sleepers don't do that.''

A 2007 analysis by consulting firm Energy Strategies found that concrete railway sleepers emit an average 93 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide in their 60-year life, while wooden sleepers emit as much as 540 kilotonnes in that time, depending on the rate of decay. Wooden sleepers usually last 18 to 20 years.

A spokesman for Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder said the government ''encourages the use of concrete sleepers wherever possible'' but had chosen not to this time because of the needs of freight operators that also used the Seymour line.

''Because the broad gauge tracks may be converted in the future to standard gauge, the Department of Transport's freight and logistics division asked that V/Line use new gauge-convertible timber sleepers between Donnybrook and Seymour,'' the spokesman said.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/wooden-sleepers-plan-off-the-rails-20120924-26he9.html

[Gazza]

Why not use gauge convertible concrete sleepers, like Adelaide?

[ozbob]

Why not use gauge convertible concrete sleepers, like Adelaide?

Thanks Gazza, I was waiting for that feedback. This yarn smells like a lot of bull .. don't you think?

Crikey, even QR has gauge convertible concrete jobs ... as much as I like the notion of timber and steel, about time the spin stopped and reality toke over?

[ozbob]

Thinking about this a little more (if that is possible) it might be related to the lack of track bed preparation, in the sense that if they change the 5'3' that has carried many an express and freight, it might disturb it.  Because they do things on the cheap it means actually reforming the base, which I doubt that they will do. So timber is the cheap option, they give a bit more but they form as the trains pass.

Victorian!

[SurfRail]

What's the go with the "needs of freight operators" excuse?

About all I can think of is that the work will be done more quickly (and need 3 times as much maintenance...)

[Golliwog]

What's the go with the "needs of freight operators" excuse?

About all I can think of is that the work will be done more quickly (and need 3 times as much maintenance...)

That's all I can come up with, that the rail freight operators want it rehabilitated now, rather than further down the track. Either that or there's a nice railway line between the rehabilitation site and the NSW sleeper mill... 

[somebody]

Perhaps the gauge convertible concrete sleepers are more expensive than the quoted price.

Anyway, broad gauge is on its way out in Seymour I think.

[frereOP]

A classic example of economic incompetence. Short term gain for long term pain. It is cheaper to borrow the money, pay the interest and reap the longer term benefit.

What they are doing is deferring the added cost to the next generation. They are the ones that will have to pay. Is that a legacy they really want to leave their kids?

[Stillwater]

Communities in conservative, rural electorates where the only industry is the local sawmill regularly lobby their local members and government to buy wooden sleepers.  Their argument is that the town will die and their homes will be worthless if concrete sleepers are used exclusively on the railways.

[Gazza]

If they were imported I'd be saying go timber, but they are not.

No, if they were imported, I'd still go with concrete. Doing something purely to prop up an outdated industry is dumb dumb dumb.
There is no reason to use timber anywhere in Aus anymore, exept maybe a volunteer railway where the maintenance is done for free by the volunteers anyway.

Timber mills need to be smarter. There are plenty of other uses other than sleepers. Timber is a great low carbon building material that is long lasting (Putting timber on the ground, as in rail sleepers, is about the worst thing you can do with them)
We're at the point now where Aus is about to get its first timber high rise (10 stories). You can build big industrial sheds with timber. With ant capping, its still a great house building material. The timber industry is now at a competitve advantage compared to other materials like steel under the carbon tax.
Use our timber for things like this. If the timber mill is failing, its their fault for not keeping up with the markets and selling to the right people.
Sick of industries being lazy and wanting special treatment for self inflicted failings.

[frereOP]

Communities in conservative, rural electorates where the only industry is the local sawmill regularly lobby their local members and government to buy wooden sleepers.  Their argument is that the town will die and their homes will be worthless if concrete sleepers are used exclusively on the railways.

Maybe, but governments have a responsibility to govern for all their constituents. If one sector is being supported by the rest, the business case should be robust enough to show how doing so benefits the economy as a whole. ie is going with wooden sleepers and wearing the cost of replacing the sleepers in 20 years worth the overall economic benefit to the state of choosing wood over concrete?

[Gazza]

^Yeah but its not necessarily productive.
You could support the glass industry by going around smashing windows, but its not a productive use of resources to do so.

And what about supporting the precast concrete industry, who stand to miss out due to timber sleepers