<p>The costs of Perth’s signature MetroRail project have blown out by $100m, the Western Australian Government has confirmed.</p> <p>State planning and infrastructure minister Alannah MacTiernan said the south-west suburban component of the project has risen to $1.059bn – an increase of about 7% on the total project costs.</p> <p>"Any increase in cost is a concern, but this project is affordable, achievable and will transform our city and rapidly growing outer suburbs with a world-class transport system," Ms MacTiernan said.</p> <p>"In fact we cannot afford not to build it."</p> <p>The government said the entire project represents just 9% of the total capital works budget over the next five years.</p> <p>The additional costs are to be funded from new borrowings. </p> <br />
Pacific National and unions finalise work agreement
<p>Pacific National and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union have finalised negotiations for an enterprise agreement.</p> <p>The successful conclusion narrowly averted industrial action scheduled earlier this month (December).</p> <p>The final document will go out to employees for 14 days’ consideration before they vote on it.</p> <br />
Correction to rail report
<p>In yesterday’s (Monday, December 8) <em>Lloyd’s List DCN</em> newswires we stated incorrectly that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) opposed Freight Australia’s bid for the sale of National Rail and FreightCorp.</p> <p>The sentence should have read: "However, it is worth noting that two years ago, the ACCC did not oppose Freight Australia’s bid for the sale of National Rail and FreightCorp".</p> <br />
ARTC deal gives inland rail project green light
<p>The Australian Inland Rail Expressway project will get the green light under the Australasian Rail Track Corporation’s (ARTC) agreement to invest funds in the New South Wales rail network, today’s (Tuesday, December 9) <em>Age</em> reported.</p> <p>The inland project, which plans to link Melbourne to Gladstone, can now go ahead according to its developer, Australian Transport Energy Corridor (ATEC), the paper said.</p> <p>ATEC’s chairman Everald Compton told the <em>Age</em> the project is now " a reality after seven years" as it has ARTC as a joint venture partner. </p> <p>ARTC now has a 60-year lease on NSW interstate tracks.</p> <p>The group aims to acquire corridors in Queensland next year and start track work in 2005.</p> <p>"We hope to get to Gladstone by 2008," Mr Compton said.</p> <br />
Hunter coal chain funds to shorten Newcastle vessel queue
<p>The coal chain serving Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS) at Newcastle has received a welcome boost in the form of $145m worth of investment to the Hunter Valley rail networks.</p> <p>The money comes as part of the ARTC’s track lease agreement with the New South Wales Government and will be injected into the network over the next five years.</p> <p>It should bring some relief to the coal vessel queues that have plagued Newcastle for the past two years because it will raise the capacity of the network from its present 85m tones to 100m tonnes.</p> <p>The investment program aims to eliminate the bottlenecks in the system, to raise maximum speeds from 60 km/h to 80 km/h and to upgrade bridges to allow axle loads of 35 tonnes.</p> <p>A spokesman for the Newcastle Port Corporation said the investment focused on key areas that would help improve the efficiencies to the port.</p> <p>"We would welcome any increase in investment that would see the links in the coal chain strengthened," the spokesman said.</p> <p>PWCS has taken a lot of criticism over the vessel queue, despite having no control over the supply chain leading to its terminals.</p> <p>Problems with the queue have exacerbated in the last year with the China-driven boom for coal and iron ore.</p> <p>Association of Australian Ports and Marine Authorities executive director John Hirst said the number of capesize vessels being diverted away from coal into iron ore is also a increasing factor in the problem of Australian coal vessel queues.</p> <p>"This means that there is a proportionally higher number of panamax vessels that are servicing the coal trade at present and therefore contributing to the vessel queue," Mr Hirst said. </p> <br />
Freight Australia sale gets watchdog’s attention
<p>The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is keeping an eye on the sale of Freight Australia over concerns that it could result in an east coast monopoly, according to a report in today’s (Monday, December 8) <em>Sydney Morning Herald.</em> </p> <p>The ACCC is following-up industry concerns that Pacific National could effectively establish a rail freight monopoly in eastern and south-eastern Australia along the Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane axis, the paper said.</p> <p>However, it is worth noting that two years ago the ACCC opposed Freight Australia’s bid for the sale of National Rail and FreightCorp.</p> <p>Pacific National has not yet confirmed any interest in the sale but its shareholders, Toll Holdings and Patrick Corporation, have made noises to suggest the interest is there.</p> <p>The other frontrunners are Queensland Rail and Australian Railroad Group shareholder, Wesfarmers. </p> <br />
Transport industry relieved at historic rail track deal
<p>The federal and New South Wales governments have finally reached an historic agreement on the future of the state’s interstate and Hunter Valley rail freight corridors.</p> <p>The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) will sign for a 60-year lease of the tracks, including dedicated metropolitan freight lines to Sydney Ports terminals and a licence to allow ARTC to construct the Southern Sydney Freight Line within the rail corridor.</p> <p>The agreement has been applauded across the transport industry, which has been fretting for more than a year over stalled infrastructure investment and uncertainty over the future of rail in NSW. </p> <p>Federal transport minister John Anderson and NSW transport services minister Michael Costa made the joint announcement that the lease will be signed early next year and take effect from April 2004.</p> <p>The Federal Government’s promised $870m as part of the deal will be invested in track infrastructure to achieve a doubling of rail freight by 2020 – from 375bn tonne/km to 648bn tonne/km.</p> <p>ARTC will spend $145m of the promised funds upgrading freight rail lines around Newcastle and the Hunter Valley in works that the NSW Government hopes will lead to a 20% reduction in the cost of transporting coal to the port of Newcastle.</p> <p>The NSW Government will remain the track owner and NSW’s independent transport safety and reliability regulator is to set safety standards.</p> <p>Mr Anderson said the agreement ends "150 years of fragmentation and myopia" in the management of Australia’s railways.</p> <p>"For the first time, one organisation will be able to sell track access to train operators over the full length of the interstate mainline from Perth to the Queensland border," he said.</p> <p>Pacific National has welcomed the deal and will now invest $50m of its own money to upgrade infrastructure along on the north-south corridor between Melbourne and Brisbane.</p> <p>Australasian Railway Association CEO Bryan Nye said the agreement is a significant step for the industry that will position rail as the preferred means of freight transport.</p> <p>The ARA said it wants an early start to infrastructure upgrades and is looking forward to the next major national land transport announcement – the AusLink white paper and a national land transport plan. </p> <br />
Strike action hits Pacific National
<p>Pacific National will be hit by strike action tomorrow (Friday, December 5), after a breakdown in negotiations over driver-only operations.</p> <p>Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) delegates voted to stop work in Adelaide and the Hunter Valley and will later consider taking further action at other locations.</p> <p>RTBU president Bob Hayden said that Pacific National has insisted that New South Wales freight train drivers receive lower rates of pay until driver-only operations are implemented.</p> <p>But Pacific National said the payment in question is an additional 5% paid to former Freightcorp train crew since 1998 as part of negotiations for single-driver operations – despite the fact that NSW still requires two crew on freight trains.</p> <p>The company said these train crews presently receive $2.5m a year for single-driver operations. </p> <p>The NSW rail regulator has yet to approve single-driver operations and has said it will make its decision after Justice McInerney hands down his final report on the Waterfall crash inquiry.</p> <p>A Pacific National spokesman said: "We are happy to wait until the [rail regulator’s] decision is made, but why should we pay people for work that cannot be performed?" </p> <br />
Governments should get out of rail regulation: Corrigan
<p>Australia’s federal and state governments should get out of rail regulation, Patrick Corporation CEO Chris Corrigan told Channel Nine’s <em>Business Sunday</em> program yesterday (November 23).</p> <p>He said there are too many government departments and bureaucrats with a hand in rail regulation.</p> <p>"God knows we’ve got 30 bureaucrats, or points of regulation in this system and we’ve got four rail operators in the whole country of any significance."</p> <p>Governments ought to "get out" of rail regulation in favour of a more self-regulated industry, Mr Corrigan said. </p> <br />
Albany action plan to counter increased truck movements
<p>The Western Australian Government has released an action plan to cope with the predicted increase in heavy freight access to the Port of Albany.</p> <p>Export freight movement through Albany is forecast to grow from 2.5m tonnes to 5.5m tonnes by 2010.</p> <p>"Much of that growth can be attributed to the grains and bluegum plantation woodchip industries, and it is likely that up to 70% of this freight will be transported to port by road," the WA planning and infrastructure minister, Alannah MacTiernan, said.</p> <p>This gave rise to concerns that the growth in truck movements will have a significant negative impact in terms of noise, pollution and safety, she said.</p> <p>A working group has set down an action plan to maximise rail use and develop a more suitable road network. </p> <br />