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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-29 Daily Xml
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Parliamentary Committees

PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE: RAIL REVITALISATION PROJECT

Ms CICCARELLO (Norwood) (11:01): I move:

That the 315th report of the committee, entitled Rail Revitalisation Project—Stage 2 (Goodwood-Lynton), be noted.

Safe and reliable public transport is a high priority for the travelling public, and improvements in track structure provide the foundation. The state government has announced a $2 billion investment in public transport which will fund rail revitalisation works across the entire metropolitan passenger rail network. These works include network-wide concrete resleepering and gauge standardisation, the electrification of the Noarlunga, Outer Harbor and Gawler lines, the procurement of additional rolling stock and the upgrade of stations.

Part of the upgrade includes 5.5 kilometres of track on the Belair line between Lynton and Goodwood. The Belair line upgrade will replace existing track including the construction of a new base layer, drainage, long-life concrete sleepers, new rail where required, and signal and communication modifications or enhancements where required. This work will improve track stability and life and provide more reliable services and enhanced passenger comfort and safety.

Concrete sleepers have a much longer life than the existing timber and steel sleepers, resulting in deferred replacement, as well as reduced ongoing operating and maintenance costs. Rail condition assessment will determine how much of the existing rail is remediated and how much is replaced with new rail. The condition of track base layer and drainage is critical to the ongoing life expectancy of the track. Track base layer and drainage will be improved in conjunction with the resleepering, providing the foundation for extended track life and reduced maintenance costs.

Key rail turnouts, which permit the crossing over of trains from one track to another, and switching equipment will be refurbished. The track upgrade works will include the rebuilding of road level crossings. Some may be undertaken as part of the initial track upgrade contract while others may be more efficiently undertaken at a later date as part of the gauge standardisation process.

The track upgrade works will necessarily include some signal and communication system modifications. This will include the installation of new infrastructure where appropriate. Significant synergies will be gained from the integrated management of the project and existing capital upgrade programs across the network. Planning processes are in place to ensure that maximum advantage is gained from the necessary road closures so that the impact to the travelling public is minimised.

The resleepering works will necessitate the temporary closure of the Belair line, so in order to retain passengers during and following any closure significant resources are being dedicated to replacement service planning. Construction noise will be unavoidable given the proximity of the rail alignment to residential properties, but all reasonable and practical noise mitigation measures will be implemented. Fortunately, the nature of the track upgrade is such that works in any particular location will be relatively short in duration, thereby reducing disruption to residents.

Upgrading the track will significantly improve its structure and life, and provide the foundation for a reliable, regular rail service leading to patronage increases in the medium to long term. It will also provide a platform for future upgrading of services, including standardisation. This work will also enable current speed restrictions to be removed and will result in a more reliable service. It is expected that this project will lead to an increase in future patronage, a reduction in passenger and rail worker safety risk, a decrease in future investment required for maintenance, reduced costs for rolling stock maintenance and fuel, substantially extended rail infrastructure life, reduced road congestion and improvement in road safety through an increase in public transport use, and a reduced ecological footprint with a substantial reduction in reliance on timber for sleepers.

The works are expected to be completed in mid-2009 at a cost of $17.1 million, and economic assessment has identified benefits equating to a net present value of approximately $55 million with a benefit cost ratio of 1.6. Based upon the evidence presented to it, and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public works.

Mr PISONI (Unley) (11:07): I would like to make some remarks on this report. We are seeing an upgrade of the rail line with concrete sleepers, which will fix a small problem we have on the Belair line; however, we have a very significant problem on that line in regard to the Cross Road intersection. Anyone who uses that intersection on a regular, or even semi regular, basis would understand how frustrating it can be when a freight train crosses that road—and almost inevitably that happens in or around the time involving peak hour traffic, whether morning or afternoon.

Last year I was contacted by someone I would describe as a bit of a train buff, who explained to me what he thinks the problem is there. It is often the case that the train has to stop to give way to traffic coming in from the Brighton or Noarlunga line, because it has to cross those tracks just after or just before the Goodwood station in order to join the standard line north of that station through to the northern suburbs. Often, the trains are so long that when one stops at that point carriages actually block Cross Road, and it is not unusual to see a line-up of cars at that intersection backed up beyond Unley Road and also Goodwood Road and even Winston Avenue. Of course, those turning right from Goodwood Road into Cross Road are also affected.

Anyone who has had any experience with the intersection at those peak times tends to opt to continue straight ahead on Goodwood Road, turn into Mitchell Street, and cut through the suburbs around Unley to continue their journey east or north-east. So, it is a big problem for not just those who use Cross Road but also for my constituents, in particular, who are seeing an increase in traffic through 40 km/h zoned streets. A lot of streets in Unley are blocked off or they have speed humps because of the increasing amount of traffic in the side streets of Unley.

It is interesting that those who tend to complain about the 40 km/h speed zones in Unley are people who do not live in Unley. People who live in Unley believe that those speed zones help Unley remain a safe place to live. We have many through streets, like Mitchell Street through to Park Street and Wattle Street, which takes cars right through to Glen Osmond Road. From there, drivers can turn a dog-leg left and then right down Bevington Road, Glenunga, and onto Portrush Road. So, one can see how the bottleneck that is caused at the intersection of Cross Road and the Belair line (because of the freight lines) can be a real problem. Unfortunately, this rail revitalisation program will not alleviate that.

I note that there is some talk about bringing the freight in on the other side of the Hills through to the northern suburbs and through the port at some time in the future. I certainly would be keen to see that happen, because it will then mean that we will be able to have the dual carriageway on the Belair line returned.

I also note that, with the rail revitalisation program and the electrification of the metropolitan line (which has also come before the Public Works Committee), there is an intention to make all of the metropolitan line standard gauge at some time in the future. That would mean that work would not need to be re-done on the standard gauge track; however, the track being resleepered now would have to be adjusted from the current broad gauge to standard gauge when the time came, and bogeys and all of our metropolitan trains would obviously need to match. I just hope that will not be an invitation to see more freight coming through our suburbs, particularly through the electorate of the opposition leader, Martin Hamilton-Smith, my electorate of Unley and the electorate of Ashford. I hope that the standardisation of the metropolitan gauge will not see more commercial freight running through our suburbs.

Obviously, we are keen to see improvements. I raised some questions during the committee hearing about where the buses will come from, and I was told that there will be a separate tender. I hope that tender is now complete. We have seen buses, because I believe that the work has started, or is about to start, on that line. At this stage, we are still unsure how long that line will be closed.

Another question I raised at that hearing was about bus routes and whether they will be on main roads or whether they will use roads that are as close to the train route as possible. Obviously that is important for those who use train lines. It is also important to know where collection points are, where people are able to park and drive. What we do not want to see during this revitalisation project is more traffic down Goodwood Road, Unley Road and King William Road and more traffic shooting through the small side streets in my electorate of Unley.

These points were not able to be clarified, but I certainly hope that the department has spent some time allocating buses to minimise inconvenience for regular users of trains and to enable people to continue the park and drive regime that they have developed over the years without them having to drive into the city.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (11:15): I welcome this project; I think it is fantastic. I commend the minister, the Rann government and all those involved in this project because it is long overdue. It is really the first part of a major revitalisation of the metropolitan rail system. As we know, the Belair line is not being electrified. It does not need to be; the people who travel on it are electrified! It is a dual gauge, concrete sleeper project, and that is important because it gives the option in the future to have many more choices than if it were simply a broad gauge replacement program. As we know, the freight line through the Hills is standard gauge at the moment, and it has been for some time. What we will see with this revitalisation project is the option of broad gauge and standard gauge.

There are a couple of issues I would like to see followed through, and I have raised this with the minister. During the revitalisation, I hope and trust that the project will not reduce the possibility of having a steam train operating on that line for tourists and locals during the winter period. We know that, when the railcar depot was established at Belair, the turning facility was removed. However, it would be fantastic, if at all possible during this project, if we allowed for the return of steam trains. The facilities for rewatering are still there at Blackwood. Obviously, there would be some challenges in relation to turning the train around at Belair. However, what I am saying is that we should at least keep our options open.

It is possible to run steam trains on the standard gauge, the freight line. In fact, when I contacted Great Southern, I was told that there was no reason why a steam train could not operate from Keswick Terminal on the standard gauge and go through to Tailem Bend, where there is a turning facility. That would enable people to take a day trip up to the River Murray to go on a cruise, have a picnic lunch or whatever, and that would be a fantastic day's outing. There is no reason why the people who own that track (Australian Rail Track Corporation) could not allow that to happen. As I have said, Great Southern has already indicated that it does not see a problem with a steam train operating on the standard gauge line, and there are locomotives available to do that.

The other aspect I would like to raise quickly is the bus substitution that is currently operating on the Belair line. I used it this morning, and I allowed plenty of time, which was just as well because it took an hour and 10 minutes to get from Blackwood to the city. The reason for the lengthy trip is that the bus does what the member for Unley said he wanted it to do, and that is to detour to railway stations. I do not have a problem with that, although it did seem a bit strange to me that we were picking up one person near Goodwood station (presumably someone who would have caught the train), and we picked up that person right next to the tramline on Goodwood Road. I thought, 'The bus is going up King William Street,' and I could not quite see the advantage of that.

If TransAdelaide wants to run buses into each of the stations, I do not have a problem with that; that is fine. However, what I think TransAdelaide could do—and this would help most of the commuters—is run a bus from near Belair station, down Main Road, past or near Glenalta station (the bus would not have to go into Blackwood station; it would pick up people on Main Road), and turn down Shepherds Hill Road. The bus would pick up the people from Coromandel station and Eden Hills on Shepherds Hill Road and take them down to Tonsley Railway Station, at the bottom of the hill. With the extra trains available now because the Belair line is closed, TransAdelaide could run some extra trains to Tonsley, linking in with a bus service going back and forth from Tonsley up to Belair.

I raised that this morning with one of the minister's advisers, and I hope it can be considered. I do not want to be critical of this project. The line will be out of action for four or five months. I saw people working on it this morning. I commend the government for it; it is fantastic. The sooner it is completed the better.

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (11:20): I rise to speak on this report into the rail revitalisation project on the Belair line. The concept of revitalisation is interesting. It is like the comparison that one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist. This revitalisation is giving new life, it will hopefully extend the life of the line, and it will improve passenger comfort, so you could call it revitalisation. It is a nice way of putting it.

I was asked the other day about a comment that I made. I cannot remember what it was about but I was actually coming out in support of a government project, which is rare. The word 'opposition' is unfortunate because we are here not to oppose all the time but to comment on and make sure the government is doing what it is empowered to do by those who have put it there, namely, the best it can for the state. If the opposition or other parties think they are not, we should speak up.

In this case I support the whole concept of improving, upgrading and repairing both light and heavy rail in South Australia; I am just disappointed that it is taking so long. As the minister said in this place, you cannot go and buy sleepers off the shelf at Bunnings—we all know that—but if you announce this in June 2007, surely you have done some work on it, and surely you have done some planning on it. It should not take nearly two years to get it up and going.

The Noarlunga line was promised then as well, and we saw the breakdown on the train the other day and the buckling on both tracks going south out of Adelaide last summer. This is an overdue piece of upgrading, repair work, revitalisation, or whatever you want to call it. I am very concerned that it is only part of this track, which is about 20 kilometres long, and we are only doing 5.5 kilometres of it. What about the rest of it? I do not believe it has been resleepered or revitalised in the past.

Certainly, the former Liberal government laid the Outer Harbor line with concrete gauge convertible sleepers, which improved passenger comfort, safety and the reliability of timetables on that line. I hope the small section that has been done to the Belair line has an overall improvement on increasing the attractiveness of public transport in South Australia.

On page 10 of the report, point 3.2, headed 'Public Value', claims that there will be an increase in patronage. I would like to see that on all public transport in South Australia, but repairing part of the line is not the answer. With respect to reusing the rail, when they did that on the Glenelg tramline it proved to be a false economy. They reground the rail, relaid, restretched and rewelded it, and what happened? They then had to rebuild it at great inconvenience and cost to my constituents of Morphett. They should have done it properly in the first place.

Certainly, it costs more to do it in the first place, but the cost of not doing it properly was borne out by the fact that they had to then rebuild it. I hope that, in this case, they have learnt from the Glenelg tramline upgrade and the work done there so that we do not see in 12 months' time the line being shut again, with passengers being inconvenienced to the extent of having to catch buses or get some other form of transport and taking a hour and 10 minutes to get into town, as the member for Fisher said. Let us make sure we do it properly.

There is inevitable noise during construction, but during the upgrade of the Glenelg tramline the level of consultation was not what I thought it should be or what my constituents thought it should be, because they were kept awake for hour after hour night after night in some cases, particularly in the Glenelg East area.

It has to happen, but we need to make sure, as did the former Liberal government when blasting the rocks for the Southern Expressway, that they go around and door knock and speak to every constituent. If it was a real inconvenience they made sure the people were given accommodation out of the area during that time, if there was a particular issue. We had shift workers who were trying to sleep during the day, and we had people with little kids trying to sleep during the night. It is a bit of a no-win situation, I admit that, but that little bit of extra care goes a long way and will build a lot of respect among people.

Regarding the bus replacements that are being implemented there, we heard the member for Fisher say an hour and 10 minutes. You have a bit of an issue. Do you go straight into town down Anzac Highway from the Bay or do you follow the tram track in? Here we have a similar sort of situation: do you follow the train line zigzagging back and forwards from suitable routes for the buses to go on? It is an issue and a bit of a compromise, but let us hope that when they finish this upgrade it will not have to be re-done in a few months' time.

I was very pleased to see that the government has made sure that those people who use bikes a lot—and there are a lot of people who ride their bikes and use the train in combination—have been given consideration. I think there is a trailer being fitted to some buses for the bikes. Why an innovative trial program has not been put in place with bike racks actually on buses, I do not know.

I was in Portland, Oregon, recently. The Premier models a lot of the upgrades and revitalisations that he has announced on theirs. They use buses with bike racks on the front quite successfully, and I do not know why we could not try that here. These sorts of infrastructure projects take time to plan, and part of that planning should involve what can be done to minimise the inconvenience not only to people who live alongside the track but also to people who use that public transport mode. I just hope that the people who are behind the planning and organising of this upgrade have done their work, have learned from the Glenelg Tramline and have crossed their t's and dotted their i's.

There are a couple of other issues. The Australian Rail Track Corporation heavy rail freight standard gauge line runs alongside this track at the crossings. You have two tracks there, and it will be interesting to see how the upgrade at the crossings is handled.

The ARTC does not get a lot of mention in the report. Has it been involved in discussions about the reballasting and resleepering? It is certainly going to affect their operations. I hope that the ARTC will not be coming back to the state government in six or 12 months' time looking for some compensation for delays, damages or anything like that. I hope that there has been some work done on that matter.

I look forward to seeing this upgrade done properly the first time. I look forward to the continued upgrade of both heavy and light rail in South Australia. I was disappointed when I saw pictures of one of the new electrified trains this morning at a Horse SA breakfast where one of the representatives from the department of transport was speaking. It just reinforced to me that we are going to end up with seven different types of rolling stock. We have such a huge opportunity here to improve public transport and look at the way we are organising it and the type of rolling stock we are buying.

We are going to be using the old diesel trains on this track to Belair, and we are going to use electrified versions of those on the other tracks going north and south. We will have new electrified tram trains. We are going to have the old H-class trams and the Flexity Classics that we have now. We are getting another sort of tram soon that will fill the need for extra trams because of demand. It is a bit of a dog's breakfast.

Certainly, around the world, lots of people use different sorts of systems. Even in Melbourne they have Alstom trams, Siemens trams and the old Z-class trams, but if you had the opportunity to rebuild, as we do in South Australia, surely you look for one option. There are numerous options. There is an Alstom tram and a Bombardier tram that is suitable for on-road running and for running up to Gawler and down to Noarlunga. The selling line for these super trams—or tram trains, or whatever you want to call them—is 'From downtown to upcountry'.

The government should be looking at that, not giving us seven different types of rolling stock that have to be maintained out at Dry Creek or down at Glengowrie. It is just a bit of a dog's breakfast. Let us hope that we stop, take a deep breath and not look at the political timelines. This is going to take time; let us do it properly. I wish the government well in this project because it is going to need it.

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (11:30): We have taken a lot of time on this matter, so I will speak briefly. I fully support this; I am supportive of anything to do with road or rail. I am cognisant of the fact that putting freight trains down this line comes under some public scrutiny. I always raise the other option of keeping freight trains right out of Adelaide altogether. Those that do not need to come to Adelaide should not, and they can be bypassed through the Adelaide Hills, through Sedan and Cambrai and link back into the main line north of Adelaide via the Barossa or Eudunda. We have that option.

I am very pleased that this has come to the Public Works Committee, particularly in relation to the works between Goodwood and Lynton. Rail revitalisation is of major importance. I have been talking about it ever since I have been here, and that is over 18 years. At last, I think we have seen the light. I fully support the revitalisation. I hope they continue with the full electrification of Adelaide's rail network and the changing of the gauge so that we have a common gauge right across the whole rail system in South Australia. I support the report.

Motion carried.

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