AusRAIL, Market Sectors

CRT drops port shuttle because of poor volumes

<p>The CRT Group will cease its short-haul port rail shuttle between its Altona North terminal and the Port of Melbourne from February 18.</p> <p>The company, an active supporter of intermodal initiatives in the Melbourne region, said the decision to pull the service was made &#8220with regret&#8221.</p> <p>A competitive road transport market and a lack of support for short-haul rail increased made the service uncompetitive on cost, the company said in a statement. </p> <p>The Victorian Government has a long-term goal to shift 30% of port-related freight to rail. </p> <p>QRNational bought the Altona-based group from Phillip Rees on July 1, 2005, under a broad strategy to extend its operations into the southern states.</p> <p>QRNational executive general manager, John McNamara, said the short-haul service did not have the volumes to back a continued service.</p> <p>"CRT is an independently managed QRNational subsidiary and, as such, makes its own decisions regarding operational matters,&#8221 he said.</p> <p>&#8220It is disappointing that despite the port rail shuttle service being in operation for nearly four years, it wasn’t patronised at a sustainable level and the operational costs made it a non-viable service.&#8221</p> <br />