ARA unveils report heralding benefit of rail

At the AusRAIL PLUS 2017, held this week in Brisbane, Australasian Railway Association (ARA) CEO Danny Broad launched the Value of Rail Report, a report prepared by Deloitte Access Economics.
“It is my absolute pleasure today to launch the Value of Rail Report, which highlights the contribution of rail to Australia,” said Danny Broad, CEO, ARA.
“We know that Australia’s population increases at a rate of 370,000 people every year. By 2060, both Sydney and Melbourne will have grown by approximately three million people each.”
He noted that improved transport solutions will be needed to deal with congestion experienced as Australia’s population increases.
“To manage these challenges, Australia will have to develop its multimodal transport solutions with light and heavy rail as its spine to provide the solutions that Australia needs in shaping our cities and our regions into the future.
“The story with growth in freight traffic is even greater – a potential 88 per cent increase in kilometres travelled by 2050, and an increase of some 2.5 million trucks and light commercial vehicles on our roads,” he added.
“This growth in freight underscores the need for an efficient supply chain and for a heavy vehicle pricing framework that accurately captures the cost of road infrastructure provision and the negative externalities of road usage, such as congestion, vehicle emission and accidents – a point which is reinforced in the report.”
He added that rail makes a significant contribution to the Australian economy, injecting around $26 billion into the national economy, contributing 1.6 per cent of GDP and acting as a key enabler of exports.
“We create over 140,000 jobs in our cities and our regions, provide safe, efficient, environmentally and socially beneficial modes of transport,” he said.
“We ask governments to get on board and implement our National Rail Industry Plan to provide the rail industry and the broader Australian community with long-term certainty of improved transport solutions for the benefit of all.”