Summer heat no longer a thorn in rail’s side

“As the mercury pushes toward 40 degrees, ARTC would, in the past, often have to implement temporary speed restrictions on numerous sections of the North South corridor particularly in New South Wales...due to the potential for high summer temperatures to cause the steel rail to buckle,” ARTC chief executive David Marchant said.
Previously, ARTC could issue temporary speed restrictions on 50 days every summer which resulted in significantly increased transit time between the major capitals.
The $400 million project to replace 2.2 million wooden sleepers with concrete sleepers on the North South corridor along with the $100 million concrete resleepering project between the NSW border and Acacia Ridge QLD, will see temporary speed restrictions due to heat a “thing of the past”, Marchant said.
Concrete sleepers will significantly increase the track infrastructure strength and the sheer weight of the concrete sleepers will hold tracks firmly in place, helping to prevent heat related buckling.
Marchant said the concrete resleepering showcased the overall upgrade of the Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane rail line, which included new passing lanes and loops and signal upgrades.
“Along with the concrete re-sleepering project, the new passing loops, signal upgrades and track and bridge work on the North South corridor ushers in a whole new era of rail between Melbourne and Brisbane," he said.
“Overall, this upgrade is perhaps the largest rail project since the rail corridor was originally laid.
“For ARTC it marks rail's resurgence as a realistic freight option.
“Once the re-sleepering, additional passing lanes, loops and signalling upgrades are completed, ARTC will be able to offer the freight industry transit times as low as 10 hours 40 minutes between Sydney and Melbourne and 15 hours 35 minutes between Sydney and Brisbane.
“Rail will be more than competitive again and as each 1500 metre long train can replace 100 semi trailers we could see less trucks on our major roads.”