Brisbane Cairns land transport
This paper outlines the AusLink Brisbane-Cairns corridor strategy and the ongoing upgrading of the Bruce Highway which for much of its length is a two lane highway. The Brisbane-Cairns railway is also outlined with its former severe speed-weight constraints and the subsequent track straightening and strengthening to allow for faster and heavier freight trains. This includes the main line upgrade of the 1990s and more recent upgrades. As a result, rail now has some 30 per cent of non-bulk freight on this corridor. This is opposed to less than 10 per cent on the Brisbane-Sydney and Sydney-Melbourne corridors. The paper also notes the introduction in 1998 of electric tilt train services between Brisbane and Rockhampton. Some future corridor upgrade options are noted with particular attention to external costs and energy use. The paper finds that further rail track upgrading to improve rail freight efficiency and competitiveness could result in a saving of at least 30 million litres of diesel per year by 2014 with a reduction in external costs of at least $A40m per year. (a) For the covering record of this conference, please refer to ITRD abstract no E220725.
-
Corporate Authors:
Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE)
GPO BOX 501
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY 2600 -
Authors:
- Laird, P
- Publication Date: 2010-9
Language
- English
Media Info
- Pagination: 13p
- Serial:
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Conferences; Planning
- ITRD Terms: 1112: Freight transport; 1173: Rail bound transport
- Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01332578
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: ARRB
- Files: ITRD, ARRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Mar 15 2011 10:58AM