“Why not bring the railway back to life …..?
I live on the Brisbane Valley highway (Sth East Qld) and I sit on the verandah and have watched many times more than 3 trucks behind each other doing over 100km/hr and at one time counted 5 with trailers loaded.
We have a gravel company nearby whose drivers think they own the highway here and they sit right on your tail so there is no room for error at all as we only have a 2 lane highway with a lot of pot holes.
Least the M1 is a reasonably good road. We make 1 wrong move and we are history. I believe instead of building more roads why not bring the railway back to life and get these trucks off the road.
Joanne
July 4th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Hi there Joanne….. firstly let ne say that I live not far from you. Please look again at the road that you are talking about as there is a school not far from you if I am thinking where you live is correct and there is no way that trucks can be doing that speed in that area. Comments like this that you made is a not a good thing.
Secondly let me tell you there is no way that they will ever bring the rail back through that area because they built the new water scheme right through that old rail line site. If you really have a problem with trucks you need to talk with the local police and I am sure they will take notice. I personally know the police that ae in charge of that area as well. I may be wrong in where you live but I bet I am not because I know the Brisbane Valley like the back of my hand as I am a long time local here and I know where all the quarries are as well.
PLease dont take offence to what I am saying but I am one that doesnt like comments like you have said that are against what I believe is trying to be achieved here.
Richie
July 6th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Joanne, the problem with rail, and it will never be rectified, is the put simply the logistics.
Trucks are cheaper than rail. You may scoff at this comment, but when I pick up a load heading for Brisbane as an example. I pick the freight up directly from the customer. It then doesn’t leave the truck until it reaches the delivery point.
Rail on the other hand follows a somewhat different plan. I will use only 1 possible scenario as there are many different ways things end up on the train.
I would still turn up to the pick up point and load the load as I would as if I were delivering the freight. Instead of me though driving through to Brisbane, I would then deliver that freight to a container loading yard. There it would be loaded into containers. After that another truck then turns up - usually a day or two later depending on when the train is scheduled to leave - picks up the container and heads off to the rail head. There it is transferred from the truck usually to the stock pile. Then if all the paperwork has been filled out, and the container ends up on the correct train, the process is then reversed. It’s taken from the rail head, to the unloading yard, and then it’s picked up by another company, and possibly then delivered to yet another company in order to effect delivery.
This logistical nightmare not only drives the price up but also drives the productivity down, as the freight is handled in so many steps. Take also the damage done to the freight with so many times it’s loaded, unloaded, or moved about in these freight terminals.
Chris Cartwright
National Finalist Young Australian Truck Driver Competition 2007
July 11th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
What I’d like to see Chris is a few more strategically placed freight hubs. And when they get to building these hubs don’t permit residential areas to encroach on them. Another one would be never to construct a freight terminal in residential areas and think that they’d live in harmony with one another.
Rail has to work in conjunction with the road freight haulage not against it. Yes! some people do think that rail is the answer to our problems today but as a singular answer it is not.
Anything that cuts down the klms travelled by the heavy vehicular industry has to be a plus for operators. More time with the family perhaps.
Just a thought mate!
Dave
July 12th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Dave I think you’re absolutely right about the segregation between freight hubs and residential areas. The only problem will be for me will be the mortgage if road transport slows too much.
Having said that though in Mooroopna they’re planning a road/rail hub, whereby all the local producing companys like SPC, Ardmona, IXL, and Campbells Soups I believe will be sending their freight into this hub by train, and all freight despatch will be loaded and leave directly from there. A big plus for the efficiency of transport, and also lower emissions as there will be no need for trucks to ’shuttle’ the freight in. I believe it will co-exist by sending 1 train per week with all the inbound freight on it.
July 13th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Yep! mate I’m glad mine’s out of the way.Don’t know how I would go if I had a mortage today,bloody expensive.
Mooroopna has been in the daily rag about the freight hub.
Dave
July 18th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
All the way up there in Canada?? hahaha
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I’ll give ya Canada fella.
Ya whippersnapper.
Qld Qld don’t ya just love it.
Hey! it’s raining again. hahaha