2014

<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> TasPorts is set to begin its $12m optimisation project at Burnie Port, which will better integrate freight transport services, and allow Toll Group to increase its throughput at the site, according to TasPorts chief Paul Weedon. </span> <p>Container storage capacity will be increased by relocating the current rail unloading area, and realigning the port access road to expand the rail yard.<br /><br />Rail activity will thus be brought within the operational area of the port, and trains will no longer need to be shunted along the waterfront.<br /><br />The TasPorts, TasRail and Toll Group project oversight committee says the redevelopment will begin within weeks, and the project is expected to take around 10 months to complete.<br /><br />As project manager, TasPorts is finalising the construction schedule with contractor, Fulton Hogan.<br /><br />Toll Shipping general manager Tony Stewart said a direct interface with the port and the railhead will help the company take trucks off the roads and increase the company’s ability to move freight both interstate and intrastate.<br /><br />Burnie Ports’ optimisation project is funded by a $4m contribution from the Federal and $2m from the Tasmanian government.<br /><br />Toll is also contributing $2m with $1m from TasRail and the balance from TasPorts.<br /><br />Tasmanian minister for infrastructure Rene Hidding said the project will increase capacity and productivity.<br /><br />Burnie port’s tonnage throughput grew 11.4% in 2013/14 with 4.05 million tonnes, compared to the previous financial year’s result of 3.6mt, according to Tasports’ latest annual report.<br /><br />Incoming and outgoing cargo through Burnie accounted for 242,136 teu last financial year, a decline of 4.6% from 253,833 teu.<br /><br /><em><strong>This is an edited version of an article which originally appeared on Lloyd’s List Australia’s website. The original can be viewed here: http://www.lloydslistdcn.com.au/archive/2014/12-december/16/local-burnie-ports-12m-upgrade-to-start-within-weeks</strong></em></p>

<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> Andrew Harding, iron ore chief executive of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, has told a seminar in London that the company could save big time in coming months thanks to the continued decline in the price of oil. </span> <p>Harding, who was joined by group CEO Sam Walsh and a number of other Rio executives at an Investor Seminar on December 4, said the recent drop in the price of oil could see the company save big on diesel fuel for its train operations in the Pilbara.<br /><br />“From an actual diesel use in the Pilbara, well, we use considerably more than half a billion litres a year, so you can figure that one out,” Harding said at the start of December.<br /><br />Diesel has dropped from a peak of roughly 85 US cents a litre in February to an average of 64 US cents in November – a drop of 21 US cents a litre.<br /><br />Using just the bottom-end of the diesel consumption range described by Harding, that would work out to a saving of as much as US$105m in rail fuel expenses, should the diesel price remain this low for the next 12 months.<br /><br />Harding also alluded to the fact that Rio can find savings on bunker fuel – the major variable cost in the global shipping industry.<br /><br />Rio, which is Australia’s biggest exporter of iron ore, can benefit from this, as shipping costs are in turn a major factor in the miner’s operational spending.<br /><br />Bunker fuel rates have been stable between about US$600 and US$700 a tonne for the last four years, but have declined to below US$400 in recent weeks.<br /><br />“The bunker fuel would be down from, say, 600 to 420 or 430 this week,” Harding said.<br /><br />“That would translate to about $1.50 a tonne [of iron ore], so it is not unsubstantial at all it is quite strong.”</p>

<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> The NSW Government is sticking by its guns and will close the heavy rail line between Wickham and Newcastle on Boxing Day, despite the local council changing its mind on the issue, and an expected recommendation from Federal Parliament to delay the truncation. </span> <p>State government wants to close the heavy rail line between Wickham and Newcastle so that it can start work on the development of a light rail network for Newcastle, which will feature a new transport interchange at Wickham.<br /><br />State premier Mike Baird says that every week the government’s plan is delayed will cost taxpayers $220,000.<br /><br />But the movement against the shuttering of the heavy rail line into Newcastle is growing, with Greens senator Lee Rhiannon successfully passing a motion through the Federal Senate to recommend that the decision be reversed, and the local Newcastle council – which has until now supported the state’s plans – changing its mind at the last minute.<br /><br />Newcastle City Council, and its new, Labor lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes, reversed its decision on the project on Tuesday last week, and said it would send an “urgent letter” to Premier Baird to notify him of the change.<br /><br />The shift is supported by Rhiannon, who said the Senate’s approval of her motion at the end of November to have the rail decision reversed sent a strong message to Baird.<br /><br />“The motion that went through the Senate sends a clear message to the New South Wales Coalition Government, not to pull up the rail line going into Newcastle,” she was quoted as saying by the ABC.<br /><br />“It’s true that there is no obligation on the NSW Government, but there is certainly support there for the community and it amplifies that voice of concern that we need to retain our rail line into Newcastle.<br /><br />“Some people might argue that what comes out of the Senate is symbolic, but to have the Australian Senate give backing to the Newcastle community that will be so disadvantaged if we lose the heavy rail into Newcastle.”<br /><br />Adding to the controversy is speculation that a parliamentary inquiry into planning decisions could also suggest the line truncation be delayed.<br /><br />The state inquiry, which is set to be finalised by March 5, 2015, could intervene with the planned Boxing Day closure as part of its interim findings, citing a flawed case for the project – most specifically its lack of a cost benefit analysis.</p>

<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> The commercial use of drones throughout is transitioning from a short term fad to a full-blown trend, as rail operator Aurizon follows Google, Rio, and other big businesses in using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in their operations. </span> <p>Aurizon spoke back in October about how they were using a pair of drones to inspect their rail assets, in an effort to save time and money, while improving safety.<br /><br />And the company’s acquisition of a pair of Microdrones MD4-1000 UAVs earlier this year went very public over the weekend, with a full page feature in the Australian Financial Review.<br /><br />Aurizon vice-president of network operations Clay McDonald was on hand to tell the Fairfax paper about how the company was using the drones to inspect bridges and other fixtures along its network in Central Queensland.<br /><br />The company’s foray into the UAV scene began in July when it was faced with the annual challenge of inspecting one of the highest bridges in its network.<br /><br />“There was a problem with how we were going to inspect the bridge at that height and span,” McDonald was quoted as saying by the AFR. “So we thought: hey, could we do it by a drone?”<br /><br />Following the initial trial, the company now uses the two drones as part of its inspection and maintenance program for the 286 bridges, and other assets in its Central Queensland coal network.<br /><br />“Today we fly [the UAVs] over the top of the electrical asset with live trains running underneath. It is quite amazing what you can do with them.”<br /><br />Aurizon’s move towards drones is part of a growing trend across a multitude of businesses, which are finding out the benefits of UAVs in their operations.<br /><br />Google and Amazon have investigated using a network of drones steered by GPS to deliver packages to people in cities, and in rural areas. Drones have also been trialled by emergency response personnel as a means of delivering potentially life-saving apparatus to the emergency scene in the fastest way possible.<br /><br />The mining, agriculture and associate infrastructure industries are among the latest in this growing trend.<br /><br />As <a href="http:// http://www.bulkhandling.com.au/news/2014/november/november-26-2014/supplier-news/drone-business-engineer-team-up-for-mining-audits">Rail Express sister publication ABHR wrote in November</a>, engineering firm Soto Consulting and aerial photography specialist Coptercam recently teamed up to use UAVs to inspect large structures like shiploaders, conveyors and other industrial machinery.<br /><br />Soto’s managing director, Frank Soto, said the move was made to provide a safer and more efficient option for infrastructure operators.<br /><br />“Heavy industrial and mining environments, for instance, are harsh on both the service personnel and equipment, plus the downtime associated with work can be a very expensive exercise,” Soto said.<br /><br />“Safety of the people involved is always at some sort of risk as inspection procedures normally involve an element of physical danger.<br /><br />“Then there are cases where the overall condition of structures on some sites is perpetually overlooked because access is difficult, dangerous and expensive for operators and auditors.”<br /><br />Mitch Beck is a commercial airline pilot, and the CEO of UAV West, a company he started to deliver UAV services for infrastructure, plant and track inspections at onshore and offshore mining, oil and gas sites in Australia.<br /><br />“I’ve been following the development of the unmanned aviation industry for a couple of years now,” Beck told Rail Express.<br /><br />“I decided the best place to focus my interest would be towards inspection of infrastructure, and anything to do with the mining and resources industry.”<br /><br />Beck, who has worked in aviation for over 15 years, says he’s first looking to target the rail industry as a starting point.<br /><br />“We’d be using it for everything,” Beck said. “We can use it for broad-form inspection, or more targeted-type inspections.<br /><br />“For stakeholders and decision makers, it gives them access to data. So they can make decisions, and have historical evidence of what’s going on, or on a developing situation.”<br /><br />Beck said aside from increased access for decision makers, the major bonus of using UAVs is in safety.<br /><br />“I’m an airline pilot,” he said. “Having that background is a very good thing, as we’re very safety focused, and very risk-aversed.<br /><br />“My philosophy is you can use the aircraft to take someone from an unsafe or potentially dangerous environment.”</p>

<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> A project supported by Thiess, Commonwealth Bank and Allens-Linklaters reportedly sees a new route for inland rail between Brisbane and Melbourne, that would deliver efficiency gains of up to 30%. </span> <p>Former Thiess chairman Martin Albrecht reportedly told an Engineers Australia conference last Friday that ‘National Trunk Rail’, would cost roughly $11 billion – around twice what the ARTC is planning – but would deliver a much better result in the long term.<br /><br />“Railways should be designed and built for a century, not an election cycle,” Albrecht was quoted by The Australian.<br /><br />“This is our ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity.”<br /><br />In the past, proponents of the National Trunk Rail have pointed out that Bureau of Infrastructure Transport and Regional Economics analysis has found that “investment in Australia’s interstate rail networks delivers a return of $2.65 on every $1 now being invested.”<br /><br />The National Trunk Rail network is 136km shorter than the ARTC’s proposed 1731km route, which involves the construction of around 600km of new track. The project is said to develop a shorter, flatter and straighter link between Brisbane and Melbourne.<br /><br />A major change in the National Trunk Rail plan is a tunnel underneath Brisbane to reach the city’s port – thus avoiding the city’s existing network.<br /><br />Albrecht reportedly told the conference that compared to road freight, rail costs half as much, generates a third of the carbon emissions and is at least seven times safer.<br /><br />He said the new inland link between Brisbane and Melbourne could be comparable to the north-south railway between Darwin and Alice Springs, which now carries 90% of all freight between the cities.</p>