SWITCHPOINT

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SWITCHPOINT

• Template for rail to revive and thrive Hon Tim
  Fischer AC

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SWITCHPOINT

• Nerves of steel required
• Worldwide massive swingback to rail
• Double stack freight dominating USA
• Passenger London Paris about 2 hours
• Australia East West Interstate rail freight
• Adelaide Darwin 90 freight goes by rail
• - I declare Director APT Freightlink, Chair RFNR

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SWITCHPOINT

• Rail is Greenhouse friendly
• Rail Branding Greenhouse Great!
• Steel wheel 1 / 7 th friction rubber tyre wheel
• Need both good rail and good road operation
• Need now from Governments
• Balance in rail road policies
• Investment with priorities
• Grain and General Freight Mega Hubbing

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SWITCHPOINT

• Victoria Four operational gauges !!!!
• RFNR appointed June 2007 to investigate
• Unanimous Report Dec 2007 with 29 Recs
• Key Access Charges and Network Priorities

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SWITCHPOINT

• Platinum
• Gold
• Silver
• Bronze

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Switchpoint

• Take the Riverina
• The Good the Bad and and the Ugly
• Bethungra Spiral No bi-directional running
• Wodonga saga
• Branchline deterioration

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SWITCHPOINT

• Versus
• Upgraded Mainline and Regional Lines
• Final elimination of 19th Century Signalling
• New rail bridge Wagga Wagga
• New Rail Bridges Lockhart and Boree Creek

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SwitchpointNew rail bridge at Boree Creek NSW
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Getting Started the inheritance

• Significant maintenance neglect last 15 years
• Private Track Lease Operator 99 to 06
• A dispersed rail freight network created over 120
  years

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Getting Started the inheritance

• Private lease buy back by Vic Govt May 2007
• RFNR established June 07
• Govt Policy Target 30 freight railed to port
  Vs 15 actualbut its heading south!!

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The Teama balance of skills

• Chair Tim Fischer AC ABC Train Show Host .
• Rail Transport Mgt Bruce McGowan (BHP
  Transport Freightlink)
• Career Economist - Journeyman Peter Wilson
• Skills in Rural Development Infrastructure
• Kerry Murphy (ex CEO RDV, now CFA Chair)
• John McQuilton (Rural MLC retd 97 out of 100
  Red Winemaker)
• Rob Spence (CEO, MAV)

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The Approach.getting started

• Stakeholder Group V/Line AWB Grainflow
  Graincorp ABB/ABA VFLCVFF Alliance of
  Councils RFD PN Asciano
• Call for Public Submissions 103 recd of all
  varieties
• Strong Secretariat Assistance

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The Approach.getting started

• Stakeholder Group V/Line AWB Grainflow
  Graincorp ABB/ABA VFLCVFF Alliance of
  Councils RFD PN Asciano
• Call for Public Submissions 103 recd of all
  varieties
• Getting out there
• Visits to all Major Tracks / Hubs
• Local Hearings in 13 Centres / Regions
• City Hearings in plenary, and six on one

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The Approach.getting started

• And .a Robust Applied Economic Model (of course)
  per SdD (the Strategic Design and Development
  Group).

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An Early Perspective..is this all too hard!?

• And more.
• B Doubleswinning the political and economic
  battle
• Greenhouse Impacts of Rail Roadtotally
  unpriced!!
• Dont You Dare Close my Rail line!
• Sub Economic Pricing what subsidy, if any,
  makes sense?

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Moving Forward..the emerging fundamentals

• Broad community and business support for Rail
  all city burghers and citizens want the
  B-Doubles out of Main Street off the Main
  Roads
• Greenhouse impact of Rail its one third cost of
  road (city) one seventh of road (country)
• Economic evidence strongly favours Rail for long
  hauls to Port
• Economic Hubbing favours Rail revival
• Evidence that Access Pricing wasnt either market
  relevant or policy consistent

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A Case for Government Intervention

• Road subsidies heavily weighted against a rail
  revival
• Rail network re-entry barriers are high
• Competition in Above Rail operations is low but
  emerging
• Emerging demands for new product on rail
  mineral sands woodchips logs paper and
  packaging products fuels.

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Recommendations Rail Network Use it or Lose
it

• Evidence and Economic Modelling
• produced a consistent 4 Colour Heat Map for
  Nerves of Steel Winners
• Risk, Demand, Community Value and Probabilities
  determined the colour ranking

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Recommendations Rail Network Use it or Lose
it

• the colour ranking
• Platinum ARTC I/S V/Line Auslink
• Gold priority 1 for rehab to Class 4 or 5
  (gt50-60kmh)
• Silver priority 2 for rehab sub. to private
  commitment above rail
• Bronze basic maintenance / Canadian model
  local mgt.

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Recommendations - Access pricing

• 2007 Rail Access prices had just gone up 250 -
  based on ESC logic to recover 40 of full costs.
• The problem - Rail Freight is not a regional
  monopoly like Water
• It is an intensely competitive marketsmall
  variations in cents per tkm, will lead to instant
  shifts in demand amongst alternative transport
  media.
• Results were counter to 30 rail freight policy
  objective, compounded by maintenance of all
  existing road subsidies

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Recommendations Supply Chain Cycle Times

• Cycle times have deteriorated in Vic, because of
  a loss of focus on total supply chain eg
  connections to Port of Melbourne
• RFNR recommend maximum hubbing and making the
  hard calls to get connections to port working
  efficiently

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Recommendations Supply Chain Cycle Times

• RFNR recommend maximum hubbing and making the
  hard calls to get connections to port working
  efficiently.by..
• Grain Logistics TaskForce
• Accelerating growth of Regional Outer Metro
  Hubs
• Intermodal Hubbing optimising mix of road and
  rail
• Set up RF Development Fund to make the catalytic
  investments to better connect supply chain and
  improve the cycling

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Recommendations Standardisation

• RFNR concludes Rail Standardisation is not a
  panacea..
• .but Selective Standardisation is a big Yes
• In Nth West Vic (re mineral sands)
• Albury to Wodonga via lease to ARTC
• Geelong around Gheringhap and Nth Geelong

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Recommendations Other Infrastructure

• Portland improve Maroona line and PoP terminal
  receivals
• Melbourne Dynon Link and better access to Port of
  Melb needed
• Better planning between passenger and rail
  freight post Eddington Inquiry

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Recommendations Other Infrastructure

• The Great Swap Vic SA
• Swap Pinnaroo - Tiego to SA
• Swap Penola - Rennick to Vic
• Reason comparative economic costs and benefits
  dont support public mgt acc to State Boundaries

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Recommendations Rail Services and Practices

• To a World of Best / Better Practices for Rail
  (Freight)
• Simplify driver accreditation and safety training
• Remove unnecessary regulation re accredn
  insurance
• Provide One Stop Shop for Above Rail Access By
  private operators
• Improve Track operation procedures eg better crew
  flexibility

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Recommendations The Green Impact

• All Road and Rail projects to include capture of
  externalities
• Any national carbon trading scheme include
  capture and pricing of road and rail impacts.

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29 Recommendations unanimously so

• A small but positive start to implementing the
  RFNR report, based on the principles of
• public private co-operation, and
• mutual obligation and benefit sharing.
• Hopefully more implementation of RFNR
  soon.

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Switchpoint

• Remember key Auslink Quotes
• There will be an integrated corridor approach to
  planning.
• The new (Auslink) approach focuses on meeting
  future passenger and freight needs in the best
  way, irrespective of the transport mode.
• Wall to wall Labor Governments Anything if not
  everything re transport is possible!

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SWITCHPOINT We went very close to losing
large chunks of our interstate and intrastate
rail network in the last quarter of the 20 th
Century but now there is some rail revamp and
revival. Rail properly operated, especially
through mega hubbing with efficient elements of
road, is the way of the future.
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Switchpoint

• Remember.
• RAIL Greatly reliable
• Greenhouse Great!
• -Tim Fischer