Regionalisation and the prospects
for rail freight
Adjunct Associate Professor Ian Gray
research for a sustainable future
Institute for Land, Water and Society
Why rail?
Lower costs
Externalities
Economic development
Institute for Land, Water and Society
Some comparative railway performance
• Rail has 49% of Aus freight by volume but 80% of
that is coal and iron ore – variation across routes
• Transport for New South Wales puts the rail
share of interstate freight in New South Wales at
just 8%
• 3% of Victoria to New South Wales freight,
showing the greatest tonnage of all the interstate
routes, goes by train
Institute for Land, Water and Society
In the USA, rail and road both handle approx 41%
of total freight by ton-mile
Trucks dominate all commodities, but only over
distances shorter than 500 miles.
Rail and other modes, including waterways and
pipelines, convey the majority of freight over
distances between 500 and 2,000 miles
Institute for Land, Water and Society
Also in the USA:
• Regulation prohibits vehicles equivalent to our Bdoubles from using the Federal Interstate highway
system.
• Many main line tracks in North America handle
trains which are 30%, and more, longer and nearly
30% heavier per wagon than our interstate trains
– The introduction of the wagons which allow double
stacking reduced container movement costs by 40%
Institute for Land, Water and Society
Can we be optimistic?
Interstate infrastructure provider the Australian Rail
Track Corporation is, even re Sydney-Melbourne
after recent improvements
Perhaps retention of any Sydney-Melbourne freight
is encouraging
Intermodal now the largest single revenue source
for USA railways
Can this flow through to our regions?
Institute for Land, Water and Society
A history of impediments for regional rail
The gauge problem, but more recently
failure to recognise the particular circumstances of
regional rail through the privatisation process –
the ‘competitive obsession’
branch lines labelled ‘grain lines’ when they can
and do carry other freight
Institute for Land, Water and Society
And
Mode shift policies – variable among states
Mass distance charging?
Second hand equipment problem
No equivalent of North American short lines (the
550 of them)
Institute for Land, Water and Society
The business of freight railways
Significance of vertical integration esp. for short
lines – the local stakes
The density rule breaks the distance rule
The ‘anchor shipper’
The railway ‘last mile’
Institute for Land, Water and Society
Regionalisation
centralised administration has historically been a
hindrance to regional rail freight development
the localised, or regionalised, administration of the
short line model offers significant advantages.
Institute for Land, Water and Society
Aim:
To exploit the advantages of local interest and
avoid the disadvantages of spatial concentration
(e.g. parochialism and loss of wider perspective)
What matters for regional governance is its
capacity and purpose in relation to the issues at
hand
North American successes are apparent
Institute for Land, Water and Society
Keys to success?
Recognition of mutual interests without regard to
current institutional boundaries
Including inter-regional like Lachlan Regional
Transport Committee
‘Shipper’ involvement – ‘chickens and eggs’
State support
Institute for Land, Water and Society
Conclusion
When we consider the 25% of main line freight in
North America which comes from ‘short lines’, and
the signs of inter-local and inter-regional
cooperation we can see in Australia, there is merit
in considering a more regional approach to rail
governance. As recent infrastructure development
on the interstate lines makes rail freight in general
more viable, so too the prospects for branch line
freight will rise. Such a movement may prompt
reconsideration of related issues.
Institute for Land, Water and Society