RAILWAY RE-SLEEPERING

315 Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (20 November 2007).

1. What is the plan for the re-sleepering all rail track lines, what are the time frames and in what order will this occur?

2. Will funding for this work come from the recurrent maintenance budget or the capital budget?

3. What is the condition of the bridges on the rail network and what is the budgeted cost of repairs and maintenance?

4. What process and tests are used to determine a safe speed restriction?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy): I provide the following information:

1. The government has committed to concrete re-sleepering the Noarlunga Centre line and the hills section of the Belair line. The Outer Harbor line and some sections of the Belair and Gawler lines, as well as sections within the Adelaide yard have already been concrete re-sleepered.

2. Re-sleepering work will come from the capital budget.

3. All bridges are maintained in a safe and trafficable condition.

TransAdelaide's Bridge budget for the current financial year is: Capital—$800,000, Recurrent—$15,000

4. TransAdelaide maintains its rail and tram tracks in accordance with its own internal Track and Civil Infrastructure Code of Practice which is based on nationally accepted standards. The Code contains quantitative and qualitative requirements that form the basis for the range of inspections conducted regularly over the system.

Where the inspections identify that the track does not conform to a quantitative Code requirement the Code mandates the imposition of a speed restriction to a level that will ensure track safety until repairs are undertaken.

For qualitative Code criteria an assessment is carried out by an experienced track inspector applying knowledge and judgment to determine the appropriate restriction to ensure that safety is not compromised.