Rethinking rail freight access: developing a new policy agenda

Road and rail freight access pricing have been challenging areas for Australian policy makers for many years. Experience from the past two decades suggests that both policy makers and industry are finding it difficult to adhere to the regimes developed to price road and rail networks. An unintended consequence of the current policy settings has been rail freight network access charges increasing significantly more quickly than road freight registration charges over a period when policy change and technology innovation have also worked improve road’s competitiveness and mode share. New thinking is needed about the way that pricing and access arrangements are managed for the national rail network. This paper recommends the development of a policy agenda or action plan for reforming pricing and access arrangements for the national rail network. This could include short term actions to reduce pricing discrepancies between road and rail freight, and longer term reforms to harmonise pricing and access arrangements across the national rail network. Reforms could build upon implementation of the recently developed National Rail Action Plan (NRAP) to maximise the benefits of rail network investment planned over the next decade.

• Record URL:
  • https://australasiantransportresearchforum.org.au/papers/2021
• Authors:
  • Bullock, P
  • Frost, T
• Conference:
  • Australasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF), 42nd, 2021, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
• Publication Date: 2021-12

Media Info

• Pagination: 10p
• Monograph Title: Australasian Transport Research Forum, 8-10 December 2021, Brisbane, Queensland

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accessibility; Costs; Economic analysis; Freight transportation; Investments; Policy; Railroad transportation
• Geographic Terms: Australia
• ATRI Terms: Accessibility; Cost; Economic analysis; Freight transport; Investment; Policy; Rail transport
• ITRD Terms: 263: Economics of transport; 1112: Freight transport; 1063: Railway network
• Subject Areas: Economics; Freight Transportation; Policy; Railroads; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01892381
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB Group Limited
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: Sep 6 2023 2:04PM