The future of Australian rail freight is at a “critical juncture”, the industry says.
Transporting cargo generally relies on diesel-powered trains, and with no plans on the horizon to electrify the vast sections of tracks connecting Australia’s largest cities, the sector is worried operators will have little choice but to reinvest in diesel locomotives, ultimately harming its ability to decarbonise in coming decades.
The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) is launching a report on potential decarbonisation on Monday.
That report, developed by engineering consultancy GHD, says there has been a lack of planning from those in charge of rail infrastructure. It says without action, the rail freight sector could lose further ground to trucking, putting it at odds with Australia’s climate target commitments.
Sending freight by rail is now a competitively sustainable option – generating up to 16 times fewer emissions than trucks and being only slightly less clean than domestic shipping. But this edge could disappear if the industry and governments don’t commit to a decarbonisation plan while the rest of the economy and transport sector pursues that path.
Despite its sustainability advantages, rail freight has lost significant market share to trucking in recent decades, with the sector blaming government underinvestment in regional rail and high track access fees compared with what it sees as road charges for trucks that don’t cover the true cost of damage the industry does to roads and health.
B-Doubles can also perform more direct deliveries and sending freight by rail is frequently slower – and blows out significantly when tracks are flood-damaged.
As a result, freight transported across Australia by rail has dwindled to minuscule levels. The share of non-bulk freight – including manufactured goods, produce and most other items – transported by rail in Australia has now dropped to 17% and just 11% across the eastern seaboard, according to industry figures.
Between Melbourne and Sydney, just 2% of freight is transported by rail, down from about 40% in the 1970s.
The ARA chief executive, Caroline Wilkie, said governments had worked on policies to drive the transition to electric cars, but the same couldn’t be said for the rail industry. “Without urgent, collective action by government and industry, the transport sector will be Australia’s biggest emitter by 2030, outpacing electricity and agriculture,” Wilkie said.
About 90% of Australian rail’s scope 1 and 2 emissions – emissions fully under a company’s control and those from purchasing energy from outside sources – are from the energy used to propel trains, with diesel-powered locomotives “by far the biggest contributor”, the ARA report said.
Across all rail in Australia, freight is the most significant contributor – responsible for 95% of rail’s emissions. This is because the vast stretches of track connecting the country’s largest cities which freight trains mostly travel on don’t have overhead electrification.
Only when entering cities and their electrified rail networks can diesel-electric trains benefit from the power source, meaning that the rail freight industry is responsible for far more emissions than the big passenger train public transport systems in capital cities.
The average lifespan of Australia’s roughly 2,600 diesel-powered freight trains is about 25 to 30 years, with the ARA calculating that half of these trains will need to be replaced over the next eight to 13 years.
“The rolling stock purchased during this period will be in operation well beyond 2050 and must harness new technologies to deliver net zero operations,” the report said. “But the solutions to meet this need are not yet clear.”
With no plans to add overhead electrification to regional tracks, nor rules requiring a transition to alternative technologies for powering freight trains, operators procuring replacement locomotives were likely to again buy diesel-powered sets, locking the industry into a higher polluting future.
“The transition to new, sustainable technologies will be a long-term process,” the report said. “Urgent action is needed to ensure we are ready for that transition when rolling stock is due to be replaced. If we miss the next key procurement window in 2032-2037, rail’s ability to meet net zero targets by 2050 will be at risk.”
Solutions could include the costly task of adding overhead electrification to more tracks – 89% of heavy railways in Australia are not electrified – with other options flagged by the ARA including better research into the use of battery electric locomotives and hybrids in the future.
The ARA has called for government support on transitional solutions too – such as investments to help freight rail operators use renewables and biofuels and retrofit diesel-reliant locomotives to reduce emissions.
The federal government has launched electric truck initiatives but has no plans for phasing out diesel trains.
