Increasing rail’s share to 30 per cent of Victoria’s freight task will be key to easing road congestion, and unlocking safety and environmental benefits, an industry submission to the Victorian Freight Policy Reform Program stated.
The submission by the Australasian Railway Association (ARA), on behalf of the rail freight industry, said reforms should focus on removing unnecessary barriers hampering rail freight productivity, efficiency and reliability.
The submission recommends that 30 per cent of contestable freight be moved by rail and for Freight Victoria to be given greater powers to oversee the implementation of the new state freight policy, including the ability to require six-monthly public reporting to the Minister for Freight and Ports on performance.
It also recommends expanding the supply of industrial land through rezoning and servicing of additional land and for it not to be rezoned (including in urban areas) or large parcels subdivided.
The ARA submission emphasises the importance of intra-state interoperability to enable more efficient, reliable operations across rail networks, aligned with national interoperability priorities.
“We must implement practical policy reforms that remove the productivity and efficiency barriers that are preventing more freight moving on rail,” says Caroline Wilkie, ARA CEO.
Other recommendations include:
- Assess long-term network capacity requirements and develop a 10-15-year Network Investment Strategy.
- Empower Freight Victoria by elevating representation to Deputy Secretary level with DTP overseeing agencies’ implementation of freight policy.
- Ensure metropolitan operating franchise contracts reflect the role of the metropolitan network operator facilitating, planning for, and engaging with freight customers.
- Establish a terminal investment fund to support suitable initiatives to achieve network connectivity for new terminals or terminal upgrades, which leverages private co-investment.
- Commission an investigation into the most effective rail freight coordination model across networks and commitment by all Victorian RIMs together with ARTC to the development of an integrated automated scheduling system across Victoria.
- Review passenger priority access arrangements to resolve a more flexible and transparent approach to managing network access across passenger and freight services.
- Victoria contributes to the development of a shared national approach for governments and industry to support the decarbonisation of rail freight operations.