AusRAIL 2008 Wrap-Up

In his ARA Chairmans address at AusRAIL, Asciano Chief Operating Officer, Don Telford said the theme for the conference. Capacity, Climate and Culture was particularly relevant.

AusRAIL Wrap-Up

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MR TELFORD said that while industry productivity has improved over the last two decades, the truth is that rail had not realised its potential contribution to the national economy.

However, now is the time for our industry to prove and echo that rail is todays solution for tomorrows problems. In order for rail to maximise its potential, we must realise that it is our rolling stock, infrastructure and technology that will set the standard in terms of safety, efficiency and increased capacity.

More surprisingly Mr Telford said that aside from these three key elements there is an even greater pressing need for the industry to reform itself.

For too long freight operators have been battling each other, and believe me I have been the worst offender! We need to concentrate on working together and get freight off the road and onto rail not fight each other. I have come to the view that we need to progress to open access terminals and maximise use of all our resources.

This will be a different way of approaching how we support each other.

I intend to establish a working group through the Australasian Railway Association to review how we do business and seriously consider the Australian adoption of the US / Canadian Interchange agreement.

On the issue of rolling stock he said there was a desperate need fro the rail industry to modernise its ageing locomotive and wagon fleets.

While rail is greener, at the same time we are also pursuing alternatives that will exceed the expectations of customers and regulators in terms of clean operation and fuel efficiency. We need rolling stock manufacturers and suppliers to work with us to help everyone reduce costs and improve our productivity.

There is a role for Government to assist the industry through measures such as accelerated depreciation, tax credits or incentives through the Climate Change Agenda.

Mr Telford suggested that some would be surprised that QR, ARTC and Asciano, all agree on the key elements required to address the capacity and performance of the infrastructure on the MelbourneSydney-Brisbane corridor.

This includes the implementation of ARTCs North-South Infrastructure Plan 2008-2024, to keep capacity ahead of demand. Amongst other things it envisages three major deviations between Maitland and Brisbane and five between Goulburn and Junee along with double-stacking capability between Sydney and Melbourne.

In the technology field, we as an industry believe the progressing towards a Digital Train Control System is a must. The current multi-system situation, besides being absurd, clearly impacts negatively the capacity and productivity of all rail operations.

The Digital Train Control System we envisage would ensure each train driver has only one digital screen and one radio microphone; bringing Australian rail into the 21st century, and also setting the pillars on which we build the industrys future, he said.

International Keynote speaker, Len Porter, Chief Executive of the UK Rail Safety and Standards Board re-emphasised the critical global environmental issues that face us all. In his presentation Rails Role in Tackling Climate Change he covered many points that have also been raised previously in Rail Express along with others highlighting the critical challenges confronting us.

He pointed out that we are moving from a world half empty to a world more than half full; the global population of 6 billion in 2000 is expected to rise to 9 million by 2050.

On the issue of oil supply he said that the biggest oil fields in the world were discovered more than half a century ago and that the peak of oil discovery was in 1965. There were a few more big discovery years in the 1970s, but none since then.

Most telling is that the last year in which we discovered more oil than we consumed was a quarter of a century ago.

The RSSB has already been involved in two key publications as part of its programme of sustainability related research, commissioning a report from Forum for the Future on the Business Case for Sustainable Rail and coordinating the industry response GB Rail A way forward on Sustainable Development.

An underlying theme of Mr Porters presentation was that rail cannot sit back and take its green credentials for granted if it is to improve its capacity to absorb modal shift from more carbon intensive modes.

He outlined a number of characteristics of the future railway which included high capacity low carbon trains, optimised traction power and energy (including greater use of regenerative braking and onboard energy storage), an improved passenger focus and rationalisation and tandardisation of assets

Mr Porter also cautioned that there are still powerful lobby groups at work to adversely affect government decision making.

Speakers addressed each of the Australasian Railway Associations seven strategic objectives. Rob Mason, CEO RailCorp outlined progress on the twin issues of Skills shortage and productivity. Mr Mason said there was a current imbalance between demand and supply in the labour market for rail.

On the demand side there is significant planned rail infrastructure investment of over $30 billion. There is an increasing demand for services, both passenger and freight combined with increasing customer expectations for service and reliability. Added to this technological change will require more and different skill sets

On the other hand we are faced with global skills shortages, particularly in trades and engineering, at the same time that an ageing workforce is likely to result in 40% of the workforce expected to leave in the next five years.

There are also generational differences that are leading to differing expectations of their work life, while education trends mean that younger workers are less likely to take on blue collar roles. To compound this, rail is not seen as an employer of choice

Mr Mason said, The Rail Industry, like many other service and transport sectors, suffers from negative perceptions and a lack of awareness of what the industry has to offer.

There is a need to transform Industry Image so that people have a better understanding of the opportunities available in rail and consider it as a first choice career option.

As a first step in achieving this, the ARA launched its new careers booklet and website A Network of Opportunities, which showcase the diverse career opportunities that are available in the Australian rail industry.

In a presentation Rail Infrastructure Development as an Instrument of Greenhouse Strategy to the RTAA technical session, Dr Ken Davidson countered arguments that an Inland Route is not necessarily a panacea for land transport on the eastern corridor. Dr Davidson said that while rail is typically the lowest energy consumer per tonne kilometre it under-performs in Australia.

He suggest that one reason is that in the busiest corridors rail routes have not been upgraded like road routes have, so their mode share is falling.

Current approaches to rail upgrading, which tends to mean putting good track on bad alignment in yesterdays network, would keep rail in a competitively weak position because there will be too many classes of freight for which road remains the preferred land transport option.

A bold new approach is needed to rail investment. Its optimising function would include maximum mode shift to rail, minimum rail greenhouse emissions, and minimum above and below-rail capital outlay.

Dr Davidson says that an example of this approach is the GATR (Great Australian Trunk Railway) proposal for an Australian trunk rail network which is optimally located and built both to serve the largest general transport tasks and to operate without speed restrictions. A new Melbourne-Brisbane inland route is its main new element.

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