ARA backs push to send dangerous goods by rail

By Rob McKay

The issue has gained increasing prominence in the past two weeks following several fatal accidents involving trucks, including an incident where a fuel tanker and a three cars collided on the Princes Highway in southern New South Wales killing three occupants in the vehicle as well as the truck driver and another where a family of three died on the Newell Highway.
ARA chief executive Bryan Nye said he had written to the union on the matter “a while ago” and that his concerns had been heightened further by Shell's decision to halt rail transport of fuel.
Both he and an NRMA spokeswoman discounted a report on the Sydney Morning Herald website claiming a “powerful coalition” of the three organisations had been formed to tackle the issue, though Nye said they all had “the same objective in trying to move ... freight on to rail”.
“The real issue, more than anything, is that dangerous goods, particularly petroleum products, throughout the world are moving on to the rail networks,” Nye said.
“We seem, as in so many things, to be going down a different track to anyone else.”
He added that governments held the policy levers to attain their rail freight targets and they should listen to public concerns about road freight.
Nye did not believe the NSW Government was doing so, citing the State Treasury decision to suspend rail freight subsidies for fuel which led to Shell closing rail depots in Dubbo, Tamworth and Canberra.
RTBU national organiser Bob Nanva had not returned Lloyd's List DCN's call by deadline but he told the Sydney Morning Herald that there was no reason why long-distance road transport of dangerous goods could not be banned.

Source: Lloyd’s List Daily Commercial News – www.lloydslistdcn.com.au