| 8 Feb 2008: Urgent Action Required to Avoid F3 Type Transport Disaster On The North Coast |
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Northern Rivers Trains for the Future Inc. TOOT (Trains On Our Tracks) Campaign MEDIA RELEASE: 8 Feb 2008 Urgent Action Required to Avoid F3 Type Transport Disaster On The North Coast
TOOT Spokesperson, Karin Kolbe said, 'Vehicle movements are increasing beyond road capacity and safety.’ • There are more vehicles per day on the Pacific Motorway than the F3: 120,0001 to 85,000. [Annual Average Daily Traffic -AADT, 2004] The projection for 2026 is 214,000. (Auslink Sydney-Brisbane Corridor Strategy, 2007, p. 24.) ‘Our region faces a transport crisis...’ • Numbers of heavy freight vehicles using the Pacific Highway is expected to rise by 3.4% every year until 2025. (Working Paper 66, Bureau Transport Regional Economics p 60) • Interstate freight between Sydney and Brisbane is expected to almost triple over the next 20 years. - a growth rate 50% higher than for the rest of the country. (Auslink Sydney-Brisbane Corridor Strategy, p i) ‘and we are not prepared.’ • 76% of freight was carried by road in 2004, 11% by rail, 12% by sea and 1% by air. (Auslink Sydney-Brisbane Corridor Strategy, p 7) • Estimated percentage of freight to be carried by rail after 2009 when current Auslink upgrades are complete, 14%, road 70%. (Sydney-Brisbane Corridor Strategy, p. 24) ‘We need to see urgent action and a major shift in funding towards rail to get freight on to rail and provide safe alternatives for regional commuters. ‘TOOT calls on the Federal Government to address the decades long neglect of the North Coast line and make significant funding available to bring one of the nation’s most important infrastructure links into the twenty first century. ‘We’re talking about an investment of billions, not millions.’ ‘Safe transport options are a priority for regional communities and TOOT calls on our newly elected MPs to support our submission to the Federal Budget for funding to restore the Casino-Murwillumbah line for commuter services.’ Contact Karin Kolbe 0411 594 599. www.toot.org.au What the Federal Government’s own transport experts say (emphasis added) • ‘Road congestion and capacity constraints, which are already evident on the southern and northern ends of the corridor (including the F3 Freeway and Lower Hunter links and the Pacific Motorway), are expected to become increasingly severe.’ (Sydney-Brisbane Corridor Strategy [SBCS] 2007, Auslink/Dept of Transport and Regional Services, p. 23.) • All of the major regional towns and cities on the coastal route are expected to face significant increases in passenger traffic, light freight vehicles and heavy freight vehicles resulting in peak period or seasonal congestion. As well as the congestion effects, this growth will have an adverse effect on the amenity of towns and cities along the route and on road safety along the route. (SBCS, p 23) • This corridor faces a major, urgent and comprehensive growth challenge... (SBCS, p 28) • This expected growth will challenge the performance and adequacy of the transport system. (SBCS, p 28) • ‘specific challenges include: managing congestion, capacity, safety and traffic issues on urban and near-urban sections of the road corridor as well as in a number of key regional locations, [including]...regional growth at coastal centres such as Coffs Harbour and Ballina...the Gold Coast and Northern NSW down to Byron Bay. (SBCS, p 28) • ‘...capacity constraints on the Sydney - Brisbane corridor will affect rail’s performance and mode share in the absence of further investment.’ (SBCS, p 24) • ‘ARTC’s current investment program is scheduled to be completed by 2009 and is expected to improve rail’s competitiveness and enhance its market share and performance on this corridor. Although these works will not address all capacity or alignment problems on the ARTC sections of the corridor nor RailCorp’s Sydney network, rail’s mode share is expected to grow to 14 per cent by 2009. This is a significant improvement but still leaving road as the dominant mode with around 70 per cent modal share.’ (SBCS, p 24) • ‘Even with increased rail capacity in the short term it is expected that there will also be an increase in the number of intercity truck trips as a proportion of traffic on the road routes between Sydney and Brisbane.’ (SBCS, p 25) Further Reading NRTF/TOOT 2008 Federal Budget Submission Sydney-Brisbane Corridor Strategy 2007, DOTARS Connecting Communities, Linking Regions, TOOT Discussion Paper 2007 Contact: Karin Kolbe, President of NRTF, 0411 594 599, (02) 6680 8516 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it www.toot.org.au |
