This means goods , which could and should be moved more safely , cost effectively and sustainably by rail , are instead being moved by road . Resulting in hundreds of extra heavy-haul trucks shuttling back and forth on our roads .
According to the Department of Infrastructure , Transport , Regional Development , Communications and the Arts , Australia ’ s overall freight task is expected to grow a further 26 % between 2020 and 2050 .
Perhaps most alarmingly to any road user is the corresponding estimate that this will lead to a 77 % growth in road freight between the same period . 2
To help visualise the congestion impact of this , according to the Deloitte Access Economics Value of Rail 2020 report , one short-haul train can remove the equivalent of 41 B-double trucks from our urban centre roads . Given short-haul trains often operate in densely populated urban areas , any opportunity to get trucks off the city roads is going to deliver a significant benefit to those communities .
In the Commonwealth ’ s Delivering on Freight Strategy congestion is already estimated to cost the Australian economy $ 25 billion per annum . Add to this some interesting statistics from the Value of Rail report and the potential impacts of an increasing freight task dominated by road are significant : -
• Road accident costs are 20 times higher than rail for every tonne kilometre of freight moved .
• Rail freight produces 16 times less carbon pollution than road freight per tonne kilometre travelled .
• Rail freight generates 92 per cent less Particulate Matter 10 ( PM10 ) than road freight for each tonne kilometre of freight moved .
The report goes on to also note that even a “ 1 % shift of freight moved from road to rail will reduce accident , emission , and health costs nationally by $ 71.9 million a year .”
And in terms of overall productivity benefits , the Australian Logistics Council , has noted that for each 1 % increase in logistics productivity we are able to gain through better management of freight in Australia , there would be an estimated $ 2 billion increase to our GDP . 3
MODAL SHIFT – WHAT IS REQUIRED Given all the economic , social , and environmental benefits of immediately moving more freight from road to rail , especially on inter-city routes , why isn ’ t it happening ?
While there are many contributing factors , a big one is the fact that it is currently difficult for non-bulk rail freight to be delivered portto-door , or even port-to-distribution centre , between our major cities .
For example , if you currently wanted to utilise rail between Melbourne and Sydney , you ’ d likely have a logistics process that looked like Figure 1 below .
This represents an inefficient and expensive supply chain as every time you handle a container , lifting it on and off a different mode of transport , it adds to overall delivery cost and time . It also introduces additional points of potential disruption , affecting reliability of supply .
Thus it is hardly surprising that most nonbulk freight shippers prefer to utilise one of the two simpler options shown in Figure 2 .
If the significant benefits of optimising rail freight are to be realised , rail must become part of a simpler , more efficient , speedy , and reliable logistics process .
Fortunately , a rail-integrated supply chain for non-bulk freight is not hard to conceptualise – see Figure 3 below .
Integrated supply chains like the one shown above already exist in many locations around the world , and we even have a few here in Australia – but not nearly enough and not nearly at the scale needed to really deliver impact .
And it is more of the large-scale , modern intermodal precincts with fully integrated port , rail , road , and warehouse facilities ,
FIGURE 1 .
FIGURE 2 .
FIGURE 3 .
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL VOL 17 NO 3 2024 09