CEDA - SEQ Transport Infrastructure forum 2009
28 April 2009
This is a speech given by Lance Hockridge to the CEDA - SEQ Transport Infrastructure forum 2009 on Tuesday, 28 April 2009.
Introduction
In tackling today’s topic, I was abundantly conscious of other speakers on this program and not wanting to duplicate areas covered by our new Transport Minister Rachel Nolan and new CEO of Translink Peter Strachan.
Inevitably there will be overlap given our areas of responsibility but in many senses their addresses today have provided excellent context for me.
My focus is on the unique challenge of running a multi-product, multi-use railway through the heart of Brisbane and the border footprint of South East Queensland.
I would like to add a commercial dimension to the discussion, especially around the growing freight task that slices right through the midst of a modern, urban passenger rail service.
With this comes a degree of complexity but also with greater understanding we can be in the right position to make the right decisions for the future.
This is all about preserving for the future the extraordinary liveability that has been created in South-East Queensland, alongside freight transport demands that drive jobs and economic wealth.
When I say future here, I’m meaning 10, 20 and 50 years down the track.
This is the planning horizon that should drive decisions and investments in this space.
Today I would like to touch on:
- The South-East Queensland Rail Network – what it is and isn’t
- How it fits within broader state and national transport challenges
- Investment and plans for the future
South-East Queensland Network
The SEQ Rail Network includes more than 400 Route Kilometres, a radial rail network extending from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast from North to South and from Cleveland to Ipswich, East to West.
Along with Passenger Services, it also sees freight traffic from all points South, wets and North go through the system hub of Brisbane.
Transport is, of course, a supple chain where any bottleneck or defects along the chain will have down and upstream consequences.
Suburban Brisbane is clearly a bottleneck for Freight.
The inevitable conflict and compromise we see across the network between different services is not ideal and a long way from where it should be.
This morning we’ve heard Minister Nolan and Peter Strachan focus on the strong growth in urban commuter transport across all modes.
In broad terms, we’ve seen a 40% increase in Public Transport patronage in the South-East in the past five years with rail’s growth being almost 30%.
During the same period combined train movements through SEQ for coal, grain and livestock for example have increased by more than 60%.
This is significant when the operating windows for freight services are getting smaller and smaller, and at times least convenient for neighbouring communities.
Peak periods for commuters are getting longer and the first trains of the day are going earlier and last trains later.
That’s a fact of life for a city that is finally growing up.
But it’s also a dilemma for our equally valued freight customers getting a product to Dave Harrison’s Port of Brisbane.
Passenger traffic using the SEQ of course gets priority and comes in a variety of forms:
- Countrylink’s XPT that runs from Sydney into Brisbane’s Roma Street
- QR’s long-distance services that go North and West including the Sunlander; Spirit of the Outback;
- The Westlander and the Tilt Trains (Noting we should get further advice by 27 April)
- Urban and inter-urban Passenger trains run by Citytrain
Each day we run more than 800 Passenger Services across this network – a huge daily logistics task.
To give some context, Qantas runs about 700 services a week.
In the freight space, we have:
Export bound container cargoes for the Port of Brisbane
Bulk grain and coal that comes down the Toowoomba range also for the Port
General freight destined for the north of the state hubbing out of the Acacia Ridge terminal
We have two freight operators – QR and Pacific National.
We also provide train services and train crewing for the privately-owned Airtrain.
So the SEQ rail network is much, much more than just Citytrain – yet that is the likely and understandable perception of those 62 million punters that catch the train to work each year.
The healthy debate we need to have – as businesses; as policy setters and regulators; as customers and communities – is how we get optimum long-term outcomes that deliver in all these dimensions.
State and National Transport Challenges
South-East Queensland’s rail network is not unique and shares the border freight transport challenges we see nationally, and particularly in Sydney and Melbourne.
Ageing transport infrastructure struggling with the task
Congested cities where more roads are simply not the solution
Shared passenger and freight networks that see freight customers playing second fiddle
Ports and terminal constrained in size and in fundamentally wrong locations
Last year, I participated in an infrastructure partnership conference where we tried to envision the transport challenger of Australia in 2050.
At that time we’ll be moving at least three times more fright through a myriad of congested cities in a severely carbon-constrained economy.
It will require somewhat more imagination than building lots more new roads and perhaps a few more railways.
We desperately need an efficient and integrated transport infrastructure that keeps Australia and regional economies moving.
The roads and especially the railways that connect our ports to terminals and distribution centres, and that connect our cities with each other, need serious review and renewal.
This also need to consider broader issues such as land use planning to complement passenger and freight needs in terms of future corridor, capacity and terminal planning.
Like most, I’ve been encouraged in recent times by the establishment of the Building Australia Fund and Infrastructure Australia, and keenly awaited long-promised projects that will deliver long-term benefit.
Perhaps Sir Rod will share some good news later this afternoon!
And because we exist in an increasingly green world, investment decisions need to take account of this and the considerable benefits of rail.
Each passenger train takes about 500 cars off the road and delivers an average of one tenth of the carbon emissions per person of the equivalent number of cars.
QR is of course working closely with Translink and Queensland Transport to deal with the rapid population growth and associated traffic congestion.
The aim is clearly to contribute to more efficient, environmentally-friendly outcomes by shifting as much passenger traffic as possible off road and on to electric trains.
One freight train for example can take 150 semi trailers off the road, saving 45,000 litres of fuel and 130 tonnes of greenhouse gases between Brisbane and Sydney.
Safety should not take a backseat in this debate either.
All data points to rail being the safest transport mode for passenger and freight by a country mile.
That’s an important consideration for our companies, our people, our customers and the communities we serve.
At this point let me be clear that my perspective and that of QR is not totally “rail-centric” at the expense of other modes.
We are a national transport and logistics company and no longer just a railway.
For us, this is about optimum transport outcomes for customers and the economy.
We also consider this through the perspective of the significant cultural shift we need to achieve in QR – away from an asset-based business to one which is truly customer-focussed.
It’s about providing the road, rail and port infrastructure and the seamless connectivity that means it genuinely delivers.
It’s also about re-positioning the national transport industry for the future, where rail can play its rightful role in supporting a vibrant economy and the lifestyle we enjoy.
The challenge is to deliver consistent policy settings, and the regulatory and investment frameworks to address the gaps so that modes work together in a truly intermodal fashion.
These challenges are not new; not are the proposed solutions.
The debate has been raging for years, perhaps decades.
What has changed and changed dramatically is the uurgency for change and the consequences of getting it wrong.
That can be said equally for South-East Queensland as any other major regional economy facing the growing pains we’ve seen in recent years.
Investment and Plans for the Future
I do not propose to go line by line through the rail investment program for South-East Queensland – Minister Nolan has indeed detailed much of this.
But perhaps a few highlights from different dimensions to add to today’s discussions.
The capital numbers are unprecedented - $1.7 Billion spent under SEQIPRAIL in the past five years and a total of more than $19 Billion through to 2026.
The scale of works impressive:
- 268 Kilometers of new track
- Extensions to the South, west and North
- 29 projects
- 13 new stations
- 102 new trains – or a 30% increase to QR’s fleet
The challenges in execution for QR are equally large.
The alliance model has been used extremely successfully to date by QR.
It was established during the height of skilled-labour shortages when engineering and technical skills were driving construction costs through the roof and slowing down delivery time frames.
The alliances are about sharing the pain and the gain across the partners, and bringing together unique skills and experience.
On paper they’ve delivered on time and on budget, but a first-hand look at the likes of the Trackstar Alliance underscores an impressive culture of safety and project delivery.
Trackstar is comprised of QR, Thiess, United Group Infrastructure, Aureson (Previously Connell Wagner) and Maunsell Aecom. It is delivering nine projects totalling more than $700 Million as part of SEQIPRAIL.
An intense focus on ZERO Harm has yielded ‘Better than industry’ safety performance with no lost time injuries since program commencement in July 2006 – This equated to more than 2.5 Million hours worked.
There are significant learning for all alliances partners through the business model that has been used – an opportunity on which QR can genuinely capitalise.
While the economic slowdown brings some nervousness to all in the business community, there is some upside.
For example, we’ve moved beyond an over-heated construction market and there are genuine opportunities to drive down delivery costs. Like any commercially-savvy business, QR is pursuing this.
As well as delivering on time and on budget – How do we build all this new infrastructure and maintain the existing asset on a 24/7 operational railway.
There’s network closures for our passengers, with effectively every weekend for years ahead locked in for some major work.
That’s not ideal for the weekend leisure market which is an important customer segment that we wish to grow, let alone the avid footy fans travelling to their beloved Suncorp Stadium and Skilled Park at Robina!
It’s also a challenge for the communities through which we oeprate. Considerable time and investment is made in community consultation and structuring work with the amenity of neighbouring residences in mind.
And last but not least is the considerable cost to our freight customers. Consider the dollar impact, for example, of more than 400 train paths lost to the Port of Brisbane through track closures for the Darra to Corinda Project.
Finally, let me touch on the larger and more visionary investment opportunities that lie before us and have potential to deliver breakthrough.
This is about genuinely addressing future long-term transport needs and not just playing catch-up for extraordinary growth we’ve seen in recent years.
We’ve already heard today about the very real capacity constraint that will be upon us for South-East Queensland without another river crossing for rail. I know that’s in sights of our transport planners but it’s a clock that’s ticking fast and must be delivered by 2016.
A new Inner-City Passenger rail network, which is on the Infrastructure Australia wish list, is also inevitable. Timing remains the only question.
As we broaden the footprint and with it future freight needs, we start to look at the likes of The Southern Missing Link.
The Southern Missing Link, Now at EIS Stage, would link the Southern Downs area from Wandoan through to the Port of Gladstone. Its target market is coal, grain and general freight from this area, and potentially beyond, should it eventually connect with the much-heralded Inland Rail Project.
The upside for the SEQ Network and Freight customers is abundantly clear as extra capacity and a new port are made available.
They are visionary projects generally supported by industry but clearly face significant commercial hurdles before advancing further in the current economic climate.
Clearly, QR remains a strong advocate for increased funding from Commonwealth and State Governments for major rail infrastructure projects for the South East Queensland Rail Network.
We know the network is already challenged by capacity constraints; Unprecedented population growth and community expectations for increased public transport services.
We understand the budgetary issues, the greater cost of capital and the competing priorities at every level of government.
Without significant and timely investment in infrastructure, however, the network will be limited in future growth for Passenger and Freight transport services – in many senses the lifeblood of a vibrant economy.
As I’ve reinforced this morning, freight transport on the SEQ Network tends to be overshadowed by the healthy and growing debate on public transport.
The failure to accommodate the needs of freight traffic places a genuine financial risk against both QR and our shareholdings in the Queensland Government, and restraints on regional and state economic development.
As I’ve said already today, these are not particularly new challenges and the solutions not easy.
Yet time has come to make some courageous decisions, to envision a future significantly different from the one we have today, and deliver up for the communities and customers we serve.
Thank you.
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