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Rail Industry Issues PART ONE

Rail Industry Issues PART ONE. Grain Industry Advisory Council 8 August 2008. Victorian Rail Industry Structure.

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Rail Industry Issues PART ONE

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  1. Rail Industry IssuesPART ONE Grain Industry Advisory Council 8 August 2008

  2. Victorian Rail Industry Structure • Victorian rail network owned by Victorian Government through VicTrackInterstate rail network (825 km) leased to the Australian Rail Track Corporation, a Federal Government corporation that owns or manages most of the national interstate rail networkUrban rail network (400 km) leased to ConnexIntrastate, non-urban rail network (3,670 km; 2,300 km freight only) leased to Freight Australia in 1999; Freight Australia (including track lease) sold to Pacific National in September 2004Government bought back lease of intrastate, non-urban rail network for $133.8 million in May 2007. Regional intrastate rail network now leased to and managed by V/Line under Regional Infrastructure Lease

  3. Victorian rail freight operators • Pacific National (PN) – interstate and regional freight trainsQueensland Rail National (QRN), SCT – interstate freight trainsEl Zorro - Warrnambool container train, AWB grain trains, shunting and maintenance trainsSouthern Shorthaul Rail – shunting and maintenance trains

  4. Victorian rail freight • The regional Victorian rail freight task is over five million tonnes per annum comprising:1. export grain (2 million tonnes average non-drought year) • 2. domestic grain (0.3 million tonnes)2. export containers (1.8 million tonnes)3. industrial freight – crushed rock and cement (0.9 million tonnes)4. paper products (0.4 million tonnes)5. logs (0.2 million tonnes)

  5. Grain • In non-drought years, the most significant component of the Victorian intrastate rail freight task is grain (in tonnes) Large components of the rail network are retained purely to service the grain industry Changes occurring in the grain industry have a major influence over the rail freight network

  6. Victorian rail freight • Average freight task on Victorian regional network has fallen by estimated 20% since late 1990s (before privatisation) despite strong State economic growthAttributable to increased road competition (particularly B – doubles and now pressure for B-triples), continued Government $ on road network and seasonal conditionsDegradation of freight network also a factor – affects operating efficiency and causes loss of customer confidenceOnly traffics to increase are export containers, logs and quarry productsMajor declines in grain, cement and paper - petroleum, gypsum, sand, fertiliser no longer on rail

  7. May 2007 Lease buyback • Buy-back enables State to better manage investment in network including upgrades and rectifying maintenance backlog Track lease post-1999 privatisation – no specific maintenance obligations for freight-only rail network 1999-2006 – almost zero major maintenance or investment on freight-only lines – only essential ‘fix when fail’ repairs (State provided $25m to Pacific National in 2006-07 for maintenance of freight-only rail network)Today – some lines inoperable (5% of network), others nearing same, most under speed restriction mainly due to very poor timber sleeper condition

  8. Rail Freight Network Review • RFNR recommended investment in the network based on the following categories: 1. Platinum (the base passenger, ARTC and AusLink network assumed to be retained and maintained)2. Gold (core grain network) 3. Silver (secondary grain network)4. Bronze (marginal grain network)Grain network recommendations developed in consultation with grain industry. • The recommended total investment package requires capital of $83.5 million and three years ongoing maintenance cost of • $57.2 million for a total of $140.7 million.

  9. RFNR recommended network

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