Upgrading railway would save money, lives and fuel
Regarding the upgrade of the Pacific Highway, John Kramer (Letters, January 5) notes the two multiple fatal road crashes in 1989 (Cowper and Clybucca) and the subsequent coronial inquiry that recommended upgrading the entire highway to dual carriageway.
In 1993 the Roads and Traffic Authority proposed expediting the reconstruction of the highway with a series of tollways. It was estimated the project, called Motorway Pacific, would take 10 years to complete. However, politicians at federal and state levels preferred to proceed with freeways. Building freeways is a slower process, so that now just under one half of the highway between Hexham and the Queensland border comprises dual carriageway.
Coupled with highway upgrades and approval in 2002 for B-Doubles to operate the entire length of the Pacific Highway without mass-distance-location charges, Sydney to Brisbane road freight has increased from 1.5 million tonnes per annum in 1996 to more than 6 million tonnes per annum. A further factor is the excessive length (at least 90 kilometres too long) of the NSW North Coast railway and its tight curvature (reflecting branch line status), leaving average freight train speeds at less than 60 km/h.
The average cost of the Kempsey bypass is $42.6 million per kilometre. On this basis, it will cost about $15 billion to complete the upgrade of the Pacific Highway.
It would cost much less to bring the Sydney to Brisbane railway up to Fast Freight Train standards. This would not only save lives but also fuel - an estimated 58 million litres per annum by 2016 is possible. In addition, the upgraded railway, combined with fairly fast passenger trains (eg 200 km/h that occurs around the world on good quality shared track or the 160 km/h that now operates in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia), would offer a much improved service over the current offerings of 1980s XPTs on a steam-age track.
Philip Laird