Save Our Rail Maitland Election Meeting

Speech by Kellie Tranter

14 February 2007

Thank you for your kind invitation to speak tonight.

Unfortunately I think it is naive to look at transport policies for rail in the Maitland area in isolation from transport policies for rail over the entire Hunter Region and possibly even beyond that.  The rail network extends beyond the Maitland area.  And services to, from and through Maitland have to be looked at in the context of services to, from and through other places forming parts of the network.

Obviously Newcastle is the other end of the line as far as Maitland rail goes and any policies that affect Maitland have to take into account the wishes of the interested parties from Newcastle.  That means that any policies or proposals concerning Maitland have to accommodate the problems Newcastle is facing in terms of competition between freight and passenger services and the wishes of Newcastle people in terms of whether the current direct passenger line continues to Newcastle station.

It also means that proposals to do small specific works have to be looked at very carefully.  What sounds like a good idea today might turn out to be a real while elephant in the light of a long term overall transport strategy for the region as a whole.

In my view it is essential that passenger services be maintained if not improved.  Demand for passenger services is inevitably going to increase overtime with increasing urban congestion on the one hand, and the rising cost of fuel on the other.  Those factors don't even take into account the comparative efficiency of moving large numbers of people by public transport systems rather than by private cars and I think that that efficiency factor is likely to become more important with our growing awareness of the environmental costs of our day to day activities.

I'd like to see the passenger services upgraded in terms of safety and security, comfort and convenience but realistically the present usage and general lack of money suggests that that's unlikely which is why I say that it is important for the services to be at least maintained at their current levels.

It seems to me that the two major threats to that service are the competition for track usage between passenger and freight services, in particular coal, and the proposal for a light rail service from Broadmeadow to Newcastle which would render the Maitland to Newcastle services much less attractive to the people who use it.

There's no easy answer to these problems but I think that the only way we can hope to find an answer is to adopt the general approach that Queensland Rail is taking to their coal haulage issues.  That is, we need a long term plan - now I'm talking about 20-30 years - that accommodates the competing demands and provides the best available long term solutions to all of them.

What that probably involves is having an initial draft plan formulated by the major individual stakeholders - perhaps the rail service operators and the coal mining interests - on the basis that the plan accommodates other interests like the need for efficient passenger services.

The demand for increased freight access by the coal industry should ensure that they could come up with a viable draft quickly at least as far as it concerns their interests.  That draft would then have to be considered by other stakeholders and perhaps by urban planners to ensure that it does properly accommodate other interests like passenger services.  Then a compromised plan could be arrived at because inevitably there would have to be some trade offs to arrive at the common ground.  Of course engineering considerations would have to be taken into account to and the Australian Rail Track Corporation could probably provide input on that.

Taking that course might throw up some interesting options that really do point the way forward for example in the longer term it may be that the best option is to have an entirely new light rail dedicated passenger service running throughout the lower Hunter Valley and servicing Lake Macquarie and Port Stephens area and running in tandem with the existing railway system.

Although that may sound like a pipe dream it may be that when you look at long term population projections and what is likely to be increase in demand for freight traffic that that is the best long term option.

Funding of course is the perennial problem but if the interests of freight customers are better accommodated by more of the existing rail system being dedicated to their use then logically they should be called on to contribute a substantial part of additional infrastructure costs that free up the existing system for them.

My fear is that without a long term plan a lot of money will be spent on bandaid measures and short term fixes that in the long run would have been much better invested in a system designed for the future rather than only addressing the deficiencies of the present.

The advantage of taking that approach operates on a local level as well because the pools of actual and proposed residential developments need to have the benefit of an integrated public transport plan.  To me those developments still seem to be based on the premise of private car usage and in most cases of at least two cars per household.  I suspect running two cars is causing difficulty for a lot of first home buyers now and in 15-20 years will not be an option for most people.

Proper accommodation of public transport was identified as an important planning consideration in the 1970s but seems to have fallen by the wayside in the boom years since.  It has to be put back on the agenda because it is an integral part of long term planning.

At a local level taking this approach shouldn't stifle sensible development or local employment.  There will have to be a lot of money pumped into local economies as the infrastructure is laid out and there will be employment opportunities for local people on the network and at the various depots and substations.

If we don't take a sensible long term approach we face risks like:

• Passenger services being displaced by the demand for freight services and there's no doubt that that will happen if it comes to the crunch because of our dependence on coal exports to stay afloat economically.
• One other option if the rail system can't accommodate the freight demands is that freight will be redirected to other centres and particularly other export facilities.  One particular concern is the possibility of coal extracted from fields being explored in the Tamworth area being shipped to Queensland and exported through Queensland ports rather than Newcastle.  Similar considerations apply to other products but obviously coal is the most important one simply by virtue of its volume and export value.
• We risk having outlying dormitory suburbs that are substantially isolated from regional and urban centres when private car travel becomes much more expensive.
• In the short term without a plan we are likely to get very disruptive changes like Maitland trains being redirected to Broadmeadow, Newcastle bound passengers having to change to a light rail service.
• Without an integrated plan people movements will continue to be made substantially by private cars notwithstanding increasing expense, environmental inefficiency in terms of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and traffic congestion both on the roads and in urban centres will continue to increase.

At the moment it takes me a little over half an hour to travel to Maitland to Newcastle by car or by passenger train with a sensible long term plan the rail travel times should stay the same if not improve but I put my money on a trip into Newcastle in 15-20 years taking an hour by car and costing a fortune in fuel and parking fees.  If you want to see the way we are going drive from the end of the freeway into Sydney for a working day, park your car in the city and see how long it takes to get back to the beginning of the freeway at the end of the working day!