The Australasian Centre for Rail Innovation has launched a new study to help the rail freight industry identify opportunities to improve freight rail productivity; understand drivers of competition between road, rail and shipping; and assess mode share along key rail corridors.
On Monday 28 February the Australasian Centre for Rail Innovation study was launched to help the rail freight industry identify opportunities to improve freight rail productivity, understand drivers of competition between road, rail and shipping, and assess mode share along key rail corridors.
The study on ‘Establishing an efficient freight transport network’ will investigate and make recommendations on four areas: modal share, infrastructure and planning, safety and operations, and policy.
One key focus of the study is to improve use of rail freight data. To facilitate growth of the general freight intra- and interstate rail freight will require coordination between the rail industry and government to plan evidence-based policy and targeted investment to improve transit times, reduce delays and improve reliability, improve network interoperability, enhance seamless multi-modal operations, and increase rail freight capacity.
The Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) is working with rail infrastructure managers and freight train operators to bring in new granular data to understand trends over time. This will involve new data-sharing agreements.
The study is one-third funded by the Australian Government, with matching industry contributions from the Freight on Rail Group and Australasian Railway Association. The study is a prime example of collaboration between rail operators and rail managers, together with government to define issues to ensure a thriving rail freight sector.
The release of the final report is anticipated to be in July 2022.
Find out more:
- To find out more about the ARCI Study, visit www.acri.net.au/media/latest-news/
- To find out more about work being undertaken by BITRE, visit www.bitre.gov.au/