Rail Modernisation
Double stacked freight in the USA (Image: Wikipedia) |
The Task
- Upgrade all track to modern standards including replacing timber sleepers with concrete.
- Allow for double-stacking of containers wherever possible.
- Separate all significant rail lines from the road network by replacing level crossings.
- Upgrade signalling systems to allow more frequent train movements.
- Construct new rail extensions to service all regions that we wish to remain viable once transport fuels become un-economic.
- Gradually shift to Standard Gauge (1435mm) across mainland Australia to create a seamless rail transport network.
- Overnight Luxury Sleeper Trains between the mainland capitals as an alternative to air transport. These can mostly use existing freight track at ~100km/h while taking none of the passengers time as the passengers are asleep.
State-by-State Rail Projects
- Victorian Rail Page
- Australian Inland Rail Expressway: A railway link from Victoria to Queensland along this proposed route is generally supported. (External link)
The Gauge Issue
Australia's three rail gauges continue to confound efforts to shift more freight by rail. While the mainland capitals are now linked by a Standard Gauge track, most of Queensland and South West Western Australia has Narrow Gauge. Victoria has a chaotic mixture of Broad Gauge and Standard Gauge while South Australia has managed to acquire all three gauges in almost equal measure. (See the Australasian Railway Association Rail Gauge Map )Any rail-focussed transport policy must address this issue.
Given the very high cost of dual-gauge track,
- Require that when sections of track are upgraded the new sleepers allow conversion to Standard Gauge. Thus the new concrete sleeper has 'three holes' that allow for Narrow and Standard track or Broad and Standard track. This adds a few percent to the cost of each sleeper, but allows for conversion without sleeper replacement later on.
- Particular rail lines should be targeted for accelerated sleeper replacement. In Victoria the tracks to the East to Hastings and Bairnsdale should be targeted. In Queensland the mainline north from Brisbane to Cairns is probably a prime candidate.
- Once all the concrete sleepers on a line have been replaced, conversion can be commenced. Remaining timber sleepers of sound quality can simply have an additional hole drilled in them.
- The bogies of all continuing Broad or Narrow Gauge rolling stock has to be converted or replaced. This is not neccesarily a major operation as somerolling stock is built to run on a range of guages - E.g. Victoria's new V/Locity trains.
- Some tracks, such as the passenger-only lines to Melbourne's North and North East, could probably remain as Broad Gauge as there is limited value in converting passenger-only lines. Narrow-guage mineral-only lines in Queensland, WA and SA may also fall into this category. Tasmania may as well remain Narrow Gauge.
Replacing Hundreds of Level Crossings with Road Bridges
Rail cannot safely operate at speeds much over 60kmh with level crossings. In Victoria there has been a series of serious incidents with the new 'Fast Rail' trains at level crossings along with the usual accidents at suburban crossings at lower speeds.
Broadly there are three ways to remove a level crossing:
- Sink the rail line to pass under the road: X This is the most expensive option, especially on freight lines that cannot tolerate any significant track gradients. Typical cost run in the $100 Million range for a single level crossing. Given Melbourne alone has over 100 level crossings this option is clearly not viable as a general solution. This option creates almost all the construction delays on the rail system with none on the roads, an example being the Middleborough Road crossing works near Box Hill. Another problem is that this option would put significant amounts of rail track below sea level on coastal routes.
- Sink the road under the track: X This is cheaper than the first option as road freight can handle steeper grades than rail freight. However, there is still limited potential for mass production of components for road underpasses. Significant costs arise as all sewerage and other service are re-located and the underpass is subject to flooding. In many cases permanent pumps would have to keep the underpass dry in wet weather. Rail is more likely to be disrupted during construction.
- Replace the crossing with a road bridge: ✓ This option opens the possibility of using mass-produced bridges to replace hundreds of crossings. A two-lane bridge is in the $1 Million cost range and there is minimal disruption to the rail network during erection. On narrower roads single lane bridges could be used. These might have traffic signals or more likely bridges would alternate in direction along the track. (Note that the Collins Street Extension in Melbourne's CBD cost $38 Million. This was a one-off bridge with two wide footpaths with trees, two trams tracks & four traffic lanes passing over about 12 railway tracks and a dual highway.)
Federal funding should support this third option rather than either of the other two.
Victorian Rail Plan
See Victorian Rail Page and map.
Rod's Rail Page
Huge collection of rail, tram and monorail pictures from Australia and around the world: RodsRailPage