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Hundreds of extra log trucks jam Princes HighwaySubstantial rail freight increases and inaction on the part of the Victorian Government have forced the timber industry to transport thousands of tonnes of logs a week on the Princes Highway from East Gippsland to Geelong. By Kevin Balshaw - 23rd March 2009 - Back to News Substantial rail freight increases and inaction on the part of the Victorian Government have forced the timber industry to transport thousands of tonnes of logs a week on the Princes Highway from East Gippsland to Geelong.
The Member for Eastern Victoria, Philip Davis, said this had added some 100 B-double log trucks a week to the highway’s traffic load from last week when the rail freight arrangement came unstuck.
Mr Davis said Geelong wood processing company, Midland Pty Ltd, had been forced to opt for road transport when rail operator, Pacific National, sought to impose a 65% increase in freight charges.
He said the resultant dramatic increase in heavy traffic from Bairnsdale through Melbourne to Geelong demonstrated a failure of the Government’s policy to encourage bulk transport by rail.
It was part of a continuing trend that had seen a significant drop in rail freight traffic in all areas of the state over the past two years.
"The Government bought back the rural rail network from Pacific National in 2007, in its own words, to boost competition and investment in rural freight and provide greater certainty to its users," Mr Davis said.
"Its Freight Futures strategy, released only in December, incorporates objectives to facilitate the efficient movement of freight and mitigate any adverse impacts of freight planning and operations on communities and the environment.
"The Government has a policy to keep bulk freight off our already congested roads, it owns the country rail lines through VicTrack, and it has a responsibility in the public interest to ensure road safety and community amenity.
"In allowing this appalling situation to arise, the Government has failed on all counts."
The East Gippsland timber industry has been sending an average of four trains of logs, each of 1000 tonnes, from Bairnsdale to Geelong a week under a contract between Midway and Pacific National, a member of the troubled Asciano group of companies.
Mr Davis said the log trains were run in the middle of the night to avoid disrupting passenger trains on the Gippsland line and in suburban Melbourne.
"In addition to the contract charges, they were being levied $4 a tonne to use the metropolitan section of the rail network whereas it costs only around 25 cents a tonne to road freight the wood through CityLink to the Westgate Bridge," he said.
Mr Davis said there was potential for the situation to worsen because Pacific National’s freight increases could also jeopardise the future rail transport of 120,000 to 150,000 tonnes of pulp and paper a year from the Latrobe Valley to Melbourne.
This would add approximately another 60 B-double trucks a week to traffic on the Princes Highway.
The rail transport of logs for woodchipping from Bairnsdale to North Shore at Geelong began in November, 1999.
Initially, Pacific National owned the state’s rail infrastructure and was effectively a monopoly operator of freight services.
The Government’s buy-back of the infrastructure coincided with the demerger and public float of Toll Holdings’ transport infrastructure businesses, the Pacific National rail business and Patrick’s port assets, as the Asciano Group.
The buy-back allowed other rail freight companies to operate in Victoria, but Pacific National remained the major operator and continued to transport logs from both East Gippsland and Wodonga to Geelong as the only rail freight company able to provide the appropriate rolling stock.
Mr Davis said this is a demonstrable failure by the Government in respect of its own policy that bulk freight should be carried by rail rather than on the state’s congested road system.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: kevin.balshaw@parliament.vic.gov.au
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