FREIGHT TRAINS

The Hon. M. PARNELL (15:55): For some time now, residents in the Adelaide and Mitcham hills have complained about the noise, inconvenience and bushfire safety risk from freight trains travelling through the Hills. This issue has been exacerbated by the increasing trend towards longer trains.

In the Mitcham Hills, residents are angry about the increasingly loud wheel squeal noise coming from freight trains. Wheel squeal is a significant engineering problem globally. There is no scientific consensus on exactly what causes wheel squeal or how to minimise it, but several local studies have shown that wheel squeal is worse in cold weather than in hot weather, and it is louder on curves than on straight rails.

Although noise restrictions apply to air and road transport, and even to public entertainment and residential dwellings, there is no noise restriction on trains. There is also no public authority monitoring the noise levels or working towards minimising them. In fact, the recently released EPA draft guidelines for the assessment of noise from rail operations specifically exclude existing operations such as the Adelaide Hills freight route from the new standards.

To make matters worse, trains are getting longer. In 2009, the federal department of transport granted an application from freight train operators to extend the length of trains on the Belair freight line from 1,200 metres to 1,800 metres. As well as exacerbating the wheel squeal problem by adding more rolling stock, longer trains mean adding extra locomotives to pull the cars up through the Adelaide Hills. These longer and noisier trains will be travelling on a track alignment that was designed over 120 years ago for steam trains.

According to a 2009 GHD engineering report, commissioned by the federal government, the curves on the line, particularly in the Mitcham to Belair section, are far tighter than industry standards and the track is one of the steepest conventional rail tracks in the world. The average speed of trains through the Belair section is currently 35 km/h. In short, the line was never built to take modern rail freight. Even a train of 1,200 metres puts enormous strain on a rail that was originally built in 1883 for steam trains. The track has been completely rebuilt several times, of course, but no amount of rebuilding can alleviate this problem.

In recent memory, residents have awoken to find rail cars at their back door as a result of derailment. This is not an acceptable risk of living near a rail line: it is a side effect of a lack of government attention to the risks of the line. Another concern relates to bushfire risk, which results from both a failure of managing vegetation, particularly grass along the track, and also the tendency of trains to throw hot brake shoes, which could easily ignite a major bushfire. Another possible scenario is a broken down or derailed train, on a catastrophic fire danger day, that manages to block two or three road crossings at once in the Hills, thereby sealing off exits from high bushfire danger areas that already have limited escape routes.

Mitcham council has been particularly vocal on this issue, and it set up a rail freight task force to push for alternative freight options. In 2007, during the election campaign, both Liberal and Labor supported an investigation into rerouting the freight trains through a new northern bypass. A $3 million study was commenced to investigate this, and a scoping report was produced last year; however, a final report is now well overdue.

The best solution, and one supported by the Greens, is a northern bypass that avoids the Mitcham Hills completely. This would involve a new line north from Murray Bridge, around the Barossa Valley to Two Wells via Truro. This option has a number considerable advantages: it causes no disruption to freight during construction; it will travel through sparsely populated terrain; it will require relatively inexpensive land acquisition; the land is relatively flat and straight, which would allow for faster trains; it will be cheaper to build; there will be less risk of derailments; and, importantly, it will save up to two hours of travelling time between Melbourne and Perth. This is important because much of the freight that currently passes through Adelaide is destined for these other destinations.

The new route would also allow containers on trains to be double stacked. The Adelaide to Belair line is the only rail freight line in Australia that does not allow containers to be double stacked, which is now a practice around the country to shorten train lengths and reduce maintenance on rolling stock. If the northern bypass were to be adopted, it would also create significant opportunities for innovation on the Belair line. First, it would enable a resumption of double track running. At present, Belair uses a single track with passing loops, and this results in delays and disruption. It also caused the closure of several suburban stations, including Clapham, Hawthorn and Millswood.

With the freight being bypassed, we could resume dual track running and we could reopen services. We also would not need to build the overtaking loop at Balhannah, which is so controversial in the local community. For all these reasons, the Greens support the campaign for the proposed northern rail freight bypass.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: Mr President, I draw your attention to the state of the council.

A quorum having been formed: