The national rail freight company touched on the effects of the pandemic, benefits of rail over road freight transport with a persistent emphasis also on a lack of government funding.
At the inaugural Australasian Rail Association (ARA) Rail Freight conference in Brisbane that runs from October 19 to 21 Pacific National COO Patrick O’Donnell delivered his keynote address giving an overview of the industry, its current challenges and outlook.
The speech quickly turned to the outcome of the pandemic in relation to rail. O’Donnell pointed out that a major strength of rail during the height of the pandemic was its ability to haul large volumes of freight across state borders safely and efficiently without needing to deploy tens of thousands of drivers each week like the trucking sector does.
Pacific National says that despite the clear benefits of rail the industry’s infrastructure has been in a state of decline and after decades of government underfunding, many sections of our interstate and regional railways were shown to be lacking resilience. Which then creates freight bottlenecks and poor connectivity to crucial facilities like ports.
A resilient rail freight network enables Australian export industries to quickly seize market share in boom times and squeeze out profits in lean times.
O’Donnell says Australia’s rail networks require more duplication, more crossing loops, more staging areas, more and longer rail sidings, not to mention larger culverts to handle larger volumes of future floodwaters. Such infrastructure allows quicker operational recovery when natural disasters occur.
Pacific National also insisted that Australians prefer real trains, not road trains, hauling bulk freight over large distances.
And argued that in a post-Covid global economy, those nations which establish safe and resilient rail freight networks will win the race to a prosperous and sustainable future.
Today, a two per cent of freight is transported by trains between Sydney and Melbourne – the busiest freight corridor by volume in the country. The result is a conveyor belt of more than 700,000 B-double return truck trips each year on the Hume Highway.
Pacific National estimates increasing the rail freight share between Melbourne and Sydney to 50 per cent would help save multiple lives and $300 million in road accident costs on the Hume Highway each year. Annual vehicle emissions along the highway would be reduced by more than 400,000 tonnes.
O’Donnell made the argument that rail networks cost the government, and taxpayers less. Saying that another consequence of more freight being transported by trucks is that taxpayers and ratepayers are forking out more money to repair and maintain roads and highways.
All this, says O’Donnell, results in added costs creeping into the national supply chain which are ultimately paid for by Australian families at the supermarket checkout. This adds to the pain they are feeling from inflation and rising interest rates.
Pacific National says the reality is rail freight companies like itself pay ‘full freight’ to network managers – many government-owned – to access regional and interstate rail lines to haul goods and commodities.
In contrast, except for tolled urban motorways, truck drivers operate on upgraded roads and highways substantially funded through the public purse.
As a classic case in point, O’Donnell pointed out that at a time when the ‘umbilical cord of steel track’ linking the eastern and western seaboards was cut to shreds in more than a dozen locations by flash flooding, the previous federal government was promoting a $678 million budget allocation to establish a new sealed superhighway across the continent – from Townsville to Perth, via Alice Springs.
What’s even more perplexing, says O’Donnell, is rail freight offers governments a ready- made solution to help achieve emission reduction targets.
Pacific National says depending on the terrain and the goods and commodities being hauled, rail freight is up to eight times more efficient in reducing emissions then road transport.
In regard to future rail projects, although Pacific National says it continues to be a very vocal public supporter of the future Melbourne-Brisbane Inland Rail, it doesn’t want this project continuing to monopolise political discussions in our sector at the expense of existing networks and much needed policy reforms.
O’Donnell says Pacific National welcomes the federal government’s review into the project which will hopefully help to get Inland Rail back on track in terms of cost and timing.
And finally, to help address the skills shortage in our sector, Pacific National says it has continued to invest heavily in driver training schools, with up to 400 new freight crew coming onboard in the last three years.
But private investment will only flow if the case for rail freight, including its role in reducing emissions, is better understood, and appreciated by government.
Prior to the pandemic, freight was largely out of sight, out of mind.
Today, Pacific National says disruptions in the national supply chain can put many voters on edge. They are now less forgiving at the ballot box of governments which fail to protect freight infrastructure.
For the sake of this country, Pacific National says it’s time to get Australian freight back on track.