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Better Railways for Communities

From 1854, the first steam railway between Melbourne and Port Melbourne was put in action. It marked the beginning of rapid expansion and improvement in railway as a form of commercial and industrial transportation. By Federation in 1901, all States except Western Australia were reachable by more than 20,000 km of rail track, although mismatches in gauges hindered interstate rail operation. A few decades later, as a uniform gauge track system was implemented, state capitals became linked by rail. Steam locomotion were then replaced by electric locomotives, and now Australia’s rail network is the sixth largest in the world.

Most well-populated areas of Australia are currently covered by extensive railway systems. However, the sparse in-land network of public transportation is placing many communities in rural and regional Australia at a disadvantage, geographically and socially. Major efforts are therefore needed to make railway more sustainable to both the ecosystem and the communities in need of better public transport.

Making railway more environmentally sustainable

Worldwide, railway is recognised as one of the most environmentally friendly forms of transport. Greenhouse emissions per passenger kilometre of rail transport is merely one-fifth of that of car transport. As calculated by the Australian Rail Association, gas emissions by rail transport (both freight and passenger rail) comprises only 2.6% of the country’s total amount of emissions. This means that passenger rail contributes only a minuscule amount of greenhouse emissions. With 50,000 people moved by a train line an hour, compared to 2500 moved by a standard freeway lane in the same time frame, rail transport plays a crucial role in improving air quality and reduce pollutants from the otherwise huge number of personal vehicles on the road.

Unfortunately, most railway systems in Australia are supported structurally by timber sleepers, which needs replacing every 10-20 years for track quality to remain high. This means that by 2025, nearly 90% of the existing timber sleepers will require replacement. The cost of materials, installation, and disruption induced by this replacement could cost more than $1 billion. Hardwood, the main material currently used in these sleepers, is one of the natural resources that are rapidly depleting, making it an unsustainable choice of component.

Researchers at the University of Southern Queensland (QUS) researchers are working intensively to solve this issue. Recently, they have developed and proposed an alternative material for railway sleepers, which consists of fibre reinforced polymer composites. The material is engineered to mimic the characteristics of timber, such as strength, resonance, and vibration-dampening. Other strategies developed by multiple construction and infrastructure companies include regenerative braking—which uses a third rail or an energy storage system (battery, for instance) to feed energy back for reuse—and utilisation of natural lighting and ventilation.

Improving railway to tackle social disadvantage and inequality

Ongoing difficulties associated with access to transport, referred to as “transport disadvantage”, are mostly experienced by communities in outer-urban (“fringe”) areas, rural and remote Australia, and also specific sub-groups in the population, mainly Indigenous Australians and people with a disability.

In rural and remote Australia, public transport has largely been overlooked in both the research and policy domains, since car ownership levels in these regions are high. However, the reason for this high rate of personal vehicle ownership is extremely limited access to public transport, mainly trains. By resorting to using a car as the main form of transportation, many people and families must then take on the financial obligations and burdens of owning and maintain a car. These expenses are often very close to or even above their means, pushing them closer to financial hardships.

To address this, the government has invested in the development of train stations and maintenance facilities in remote and rural Australia, to boost local economies and bring more job opportunities to the regions. Inland rail projects are being developed to better connect rural communities with major cities, by both freight and passenger trains. Companies like the Kypreos Group are also help improving the rail facilities in remote areas, taking on board niche projects with difficult access.

The future of Australia’s rail transport

One of the latest efforts by the Australian government to upgrade the current railway system is the $20 million allowance in the 2017 federal budget for business cases for fast or higher speed rail in Australia. Queensland, Victoria, and New South Wales are looking into their own high-speed railway projects. At the moment, the proposed routes will connect these three states’ capitals to satellite cities, for example Melbourne – Geelong or Sydney – Newcastle. These state-based speed trains are expected to reach between 130-200 kilometres per hour.

On the other hand, a nationwide or at least interstate high-speed train network is still rather out of reach. A Brisbane-to-Melbourne route via Sydney and Canberra was estimated in 2013 to cost $114 billion, the equivalence of a generation’s worth of infrastructure funding at $5000 for every Australian citizen.

This goes to show that the most efficient approach the transport and civil engineering industry can do now is to invest in more sustainable, reusable sources of energy. We also need to gradually extend the current train network to more disadvantaged areas, to strive for more geographical and social equality.

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The Kypreos Group’s specialised team of in-house staff possess the expertise and experience to deliver innovative solutions for niche rail projects, including those with difficult access. We also invest in a fleet of equipment with the essential capabilities for these specialised projects. To browse an overview of our niche rail work in the past, visit our website.

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