Trucks hauling 61% of Melbourne-Brisbane freight: DoTaRS

<p>Road transport hauls the lion’s share of freight between Melbourne and Brisbane, a Department of Transport and Regional Services (DoTaRS) report on Melbourne-Brisbane Corridor Strategy has found.</p> <p>The dominant mode for transport along the corridor and between Melbourne and Brisbane was road (61%), followed by rail (30%) and shipping (9%), the report found. </p> <p>More than 1,000 heavy vehicles a day are working on all sections of the route, with heavy trucks making up 20% of the traffic flow for most of the route, and over 30% on many of the inter-town sections. </p> <p>According to Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics projections, heavy truck traffic is expected to increase by around 50% over the next 20 years and will be an increasing proportion of total traffic.</p> <p>There is no direct continuous inland rail link between the cities, with end-to-end rail freight moving via Sydney along the AusLink Melbourne-Sydney and Sydney-Brisbane rail corridors.</p> <p>DoTaRS released the draft AusLink Melbourne-Brisbane Corridor Strategy for comment, ahead of a Council of Australian Governments deadline of June 30.</p> <p>The study is among 24 corridor strategies being developed under the AusLink land transport network, to provide a basis for the federal, state and territory governments to negotiate project-funding priorities.</p> <p>Excluding coal, the end-to-end freight task between Melbourne and Brisbane in 2004 was 4.5m tonnes, compared with inter-regional freight in 2004 of 28.5m tonnes.</p> <p>Volume for each of the modes in 2004 was 2.75m tonnes for road, 1.35m tonnes for rail, 0.41m tonnes by sea and 0.05m tonnes by air.</p> <p>Road at present dominates the end-to-end freight market between Melbourne and Brisbane, as well as freight within regional sections. </p> <p>However, this was projected to change, the report found, as rail’s mode share and volumes increased strongly over the forecast period as a result of rail upgrades on the coastal route between Sydney and Brisbane.</p> <p>Although rail capacity will have been substantially upgraded by 2009, there will continue to be deficiencies that impact on railway speed and efficiency, reflecting the long-established track alignment and the need for rail freight to move through the capacity-constrained Sydney network, the report found.</p> <p>Comments on the AusLink Melbourne-Brisbane Corridor Strategy should be submitted via email to corridorstrategies@dotars.gov.au by May 16.</p> <p>The strategy is available on the DOTARS website at:</p> <p>http:&#47&#47www.auslink.gov.au&#47whatis&#47network&#47corridors&#47draft_corridors.aspx</p> <br />