Heavy flooding in northern Tasmania swamped key infrastructure but also provided the state’s rail provider the opportunity to show it had changed for the better.
Massive floods that inundated parts of northern Tasmania took their toll on the island’s railways.
But TasRail chief executive Damien White says even as the floods cut rail links between Hobart and the northern ports, the rail operator was rising to the challenge.
“When it came to the flood event, parts of our network were washed away so there was a clear choice for us to make,” he said.
“We could have simply said, ‘this is an act of God’ and told customers, ‘we love you very much but we’ll call ‘Force Majeure’ on our contracts and we’ll see you when the track re-opens’.
“But we decided, that’s not the way we operate. So we said, we’re as much as possible going to make this painless for customers.”
So TasRail set about opening up part of the network swiftly and then setting up a small intermodal terminal at Conara in the island’s Midlands’ region, about 50km south of Launceston.
“We were able to mobilise some heavy forklifts, put some people in place and start up what we called a ‘hybrid operation’ with rail from the south,” White recalls.
From Conara, road freight connections were put in place to Launceston and the northern ports.
“So we continued to send the bill to our customers as if it was normally travelling on rail but we took all the operational ‘heat’ on their behalf,” White said.
“The feedback we’ve had from that approach has been outstanding.
“If you’re thinking about rail in the context of part of a logistics chain, it is all about trying to make it painless and simple and where your customers have confidence in what you are doing.
“Much as we would have preferred not to have the flood, it was an opportunity to show how TasRail today is far different from perhaps the old organisation.”
White knows more than most how closely intertwined rail is with sea in the Tasmanian context.
“Tasmania is so reliant on the blue water connection to the mainland and export markets,” he said.
“Both our supply chain solutions and those of road and so forth are all with an eye on ‘how do we get it out of the island?’”
He paints a fairly positive picture of the business.
“In a nutshell, the last five or six years have been mainly about a lot of new investment in equipment and improving the track so we can have, from a service quality perspective, a business that can actually grow.
“And to get the cost structure right so we can be competitive with our pricing as well.”
TasRail was created back in 2009 from the state government takeover of the Pacific National business in Tasmania.
“We’ve been able to get some incremental improvements in reliability and safety which gave existing customers confidence to continue to grow with us.
“Then in more recent times we’ve had the capacity to go out and start talking to new customers.
“For us that’s a real indicator of the potential of the business… we got people who perhaps had been burnt in the past back on rail and then we know we’ve actually got something of value.”
He talked of growth in the order of 80% in new customers during the past five to six years.
Commonwealth investment has helped with another $200m from Canberra being directed to improving the network and making it safer and more reliable.
Then the private sector has done its bit, with Toll investing about $25m for new facilities at the Brighton freight hub, just north of Hobart.
“The benefit for them is a direct interface between rail and their warehouse,” White said.
“They can deliver to the suburbs of Hobart (by truck) and then the reverse happens when they bring containers back by rail.”
White says of the contestable freight on the Burnie-Brighton corridor, some 68% is now on rail: “obviously a very good number”.
“A few years ago it was a lot less than that.”
He noted there was no silver bullet, but a case of getting the track in such a way as to prevent regular derailments and also having the money to invest in new locomotives and wagons.
“So we are able to provide higher levels of reliability,” he said.
“Simply us engaging with customers and customers so they could have the confidence of a long term plan for rail in Tasmania.”
This article originally appeared in the July 21 print edition of Rail Express affiliate Lloyd’s List Australia. Click here to read the original.
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