Hansard 3/8

[arthur marsh <marsh@ties.itu.int>]

       Australian House of Representatives Hansard for 8th February 1999
                                       
                           PRIVATE MEMBERS BUSINESS
                              Rail Infrastructure
                                       
                        This document has DRAFT status
   
   Mr McARTHUR (Corangamite) (12.51 p.m.)--I am delighted to support the
   motion before the House in this new era of railways in Australia. I
   commend the House of Representatives Standing Committee on
   Communications, Transport and Microeconomic Reform report Tracking
   Australia, produced under the outstanding chairmanship of the member
   for Hinkler, and I commend all those members who participated in
   producing that report. It is a landmark report. Other members have
   referred to the changing attitudes towards railways in governments and
   also in the private sector.
   
   As members would be aware, passenger railways and their operation have
   dominated the thinking and policies of governments and those people
   using railways around Australia. There is a change taking place in the
   way in which those railways operate; we have only to look at the
   Homebush Olympic Games site where the new railway will service that
   venue with 50,000 people per hour and a train every two minutes. That
   will bring about a change of attitude towards urban rail in Sydney and
   around Australia.
   
   The committee report and the motion really refer to freight. That is
   the problem that we face in Australia: moving freight by sea, road or
   rail. In the mid-1990s that was divided at about one-third each, with
   road dominating in terms of tonnes carried and value. Road always had
   an advantage because it was a fast, short-haul, door-to-door, flexible
   service, whereas rail was not beating the competition. Rail freight,
   fundamentally, was interstate. The intrastate was lacking because of
   state rivalries--and all members would be aware of that. The National
   Rail Corporation now carries 16 per cent of the national freight.
   
   Railways have been in decline over many years because of inconsistent
   operating systems, different regulations state by state, difficulty in
   gaining access to the state track systems, unreliability of the
   operations, poor customer responsiveness and the 19th century
   alignments of the tracks. Roads enjoyed new highways that were
   straight and multilaned.
   
   However, there is emerging support for rail, as this report indicates,
   especially for long-haul rail movement. Queensland Rail is a shining
   light of the ability to invest capital on new tracks, especially for
   mineral exports. Road accidents cost an estimated $6 billion a year;
   rail is comparatively safe and it is environmentally friendly. With
   the introduction of new technologies that other speakers have
   mentioned, as has happened in Europe, as well as deregulation and road
   congestion, there is a move back to railways.
   
   The state transport ministers met in 1997, and the states and the
   Commonwealth unusually agreed to a course of action to set up
   interstate rail arrangements, where there would be investment access
   to one track from Brisbane to Perth. As other speakers have mentioned,
   the Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics have suggested
   that if we only spent $3.2 billion on a 20-year rail program we could
   bring the track up to scratch. I commend the previous Labor government
   for their One Nation program where $443 million was spent on upgrading
   interstate tracks and terminals. The Hilmer competition policy has
   ensured that there will be more genuine competition between road, rail
   and the private sector.
   
   The real problem that rail faces is the old formations: the ballast
   drainage, old sleepers and gradients. This brings about speed
   restrictions which make rail uncompetitive with road. The
   Melbourne-Adelaide section, which other members have alluded to and
   which goes through part of the electorate of Corangamite, is very good
   evidence of the poor standard of laying of the track between Pura Pura
   and the South Australia border: replacing of standard gauge track on
   poor ballast with new concrete sleepers, which was unbelievable; using
   life expired rail; the appalling conditions of the standard gauge,
   which the committee inspected between Gheringhap and Ararat; and using
   old sleepers so much so that that becomes a major problem.
   
   Finally, there is an example of good railway practice in the Pilbara
   region. It is world's best practice and it gives a lead to railways
   throughout Australia. Trains in that region are 2 1/2 kilometres long
   and carry 28,000 tonnes in one run. They are world's best practice, so
   that proves that we can do it here in Australia if we are prepared to
   invest the money in the track and provide new rolling stock. Contrary
   to some of the expectations of the new projects, like the Alice
   Springs-Darwin railway, I would advocate to members of this House that
   we get our current railway system in order. Let us make the
   investment. Let us make the rolling stock better. Let us get the track
   in order. Then we can start looking at new investments such as Alice
   Springs-Darwin.

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