Wagga Wagga, the town so nice they named it three times but then realised that was too much.

@crispyglove

3 жыл бұрын

It reminds me of Walla Walla, Washington

@brad9529

3 жыл бұрын

@@crispyglove we have one of those aswell Walla Walla NSW 2659

@jswaggart01

3 жыл бұрын

Don’t forget good ol’ Woy Woy 😎

@clayauslewis4236

3 жыл бұрын

If it's true that Brooklyn Beckham was conceived in Brooklyn, NY, all I can say he was lucky his folks weren't staying in Wagga Wagga at the time.

@brackenboy6321

3 жыл бұрын

Don't forget Bli Bli, Sunshine Coast Qld

its staggering to think of all the rail lines that have been closed in this country..with emphasis on road transport. Just as tram lines were torn up, now light rail is the go. All the country towns that depended on rail that no longer operates, and the lack of passenger rail along the coast for major towns. A country as big as ours desperately needs a rail system as an alternative to road passenger and goods transport.

@qjtvaddict

2 жыл бұрын

Wanna make it fast? And not slow and winding?

@jethrotaylor2614

Жыл бұрын

simple, people wand door to door service and rail does not offer that. Rail is great for bulk transport.

What most Australian taxpayers do not know, is that road wear is a 4th order equation. A multiple combination (typical semi trailer) wears roads at a rate of about 6000 cars. So the wear of a B-double is way more than double a normal semi. But the trucking industry does not even go close to covering these costs. This project will save tax payers billions long term.

@Freshbott2

3 жыл бұрын

That cost is just sick. In WA any private interest big enough will go it alone and build out a rail network and save money. But for every smaller interest combined we have inadequate public freight rail because infrastructure spending is co-opted by "without trucks, Australia stops" mobs who live in a perpetual state of imagined persecution. Fortunately the current gov had the sense to ditch Roe8. Our roads are inadequate for the job and always damaged. Footy shorts and driving on meth really is a political class. I can't wait till automation kills their entitlement.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

This is a perspective I hadn't even considered - thanks for contributing it. It's certainly an unexpected (and HUGE) saving. - Fig

@antiussentiment

3 жыл бұрын

@@Freshbott2 Roe8 is a terrible idea for a number of reasons. Cost first. But also that it just adds more trucks to an already congested, inefficient container terminal. I worked down there for a while and those trucks line up in side the port waiting for loads for ages. The answer would be to get the containers out of the port with short haul rail to a well organised, efficient terminal in one of Perths' commercial centres. Tax payers have no idea just how much they subsidise heavy road haulage.

@antiussentiment

3 жыл бұрын

@@Figscape a quick google gave me this. www.insidescience.org/news/how-much-damage-do-heavy-trucks-do-our-roads But civil engineering mates of mine chatter about this problem quite a bit. If I understand them, a B-Double probably needs to pay close to $100k to cover the damage it does to a road each year. A standard semi about $20k.

@markfryer9880

3 жыл бұрын

@@antiussentiment If a standard B-Double is doing that much damage to our roads then what is the cost factor for those extra long B-Doubles that can haul two forty foot containers or two super heavy twenty foot containers or four twenty foot containers? They generally have a sticker on the rear saying PBS Approved Vehicle.

Actually, the fun fact is that trains going through to the Port of Brisbane DO NOT need to stop and unload elsewhere. Trains carrying freight such as coal, grain, cotton etc are all single-stack trains that will utilise the existing line to the Port of Brisbane. It is sadly a common misunderstanding that such trains won't go straight through to the port. Only trains carrying freight for domestic market (e.g. whitegoods, groceries, beverages etc) will stop at the terminals such as Acacia Ridge.

@Diggles67

Жыл бұрын

There is a plan to construct a tunnel from the inland rail terminal to the Port of Brisbane, bypassing the suburban city train network, costed at some $52 billion. Whether it will ever get done is anyone’s guess of course.

@74_pelicans

Жыл бұрын

​@@Diggles67mate inline rail won't even get finished

An absolute marvellous piece of infrastructure and the people who had the forward thinking to spend taxpayers money on this critically important and needed project should be highly commended

@blardymunggas6884

3 жыл бұрын

What is so marvelous about this rail? Firstly you need buyers for Australian products. The only idiot who was willing to pay crazy money for Australian products was the chinese. And now there are gone. Who else will buy from Australia especially when Australia is located so far away from other high baller buyers ??

@garyquelch888

3 жыл бұрын

@@blardymunggas6884 firstly that crazy money for Australian products allows you and I the best standard of living in the world Henry regardless who buys our produce and products as it is in high demand and the best money can buy and also I can’t believe the amount of people that have nothing to do except criticise urgently needed infrastructure the same people who thought Cahill was mad when he wanted 8 lanes each for traffic and rail across the harbour bridge think 50 years into the future Henry rather than the present when it comes to building critical infrastructure

@blardymunggas6884

3 жыл бұрын

@@garyquelch888 A well planned project are definitely welcome if its really good for the country. This however has been poorly planned and cost 5 times more than what other countries pay for. Who’s paying for it?

@kmrao06

3 жыл бұрын

@@blardymunggas6884 : India can be a great trading partner .

@tylerdavidson2400

2 жыл бұрын

@Henry Mate, I lived in US for a while and found plenty of Australian products on supermarkets shelves there. Even they import Australian beef despite US being the land of beef. Our agricultural products have unmatched quality and people from all over would line up to buy them.

Since Australia is such a very large country it should benefit from upgrading its rail network. I’m sure that hauling shipping containers from Sydney to Melbourne is a bit cheaper by rail than by truck.

@antiussentiment

3 жыл бұрын

Only fractionally. But that's because taxpayers subsidise the road haulage industry so heavily.

@tylerdavidson2400

2 жыл бұрын

@Noisy You have to factor the road damage caused by Heavy B-doubles and road fatalities. Even capitalist Americans transport their goods by rail more than trucks and their terrain is way challenging than ours.

@EU_Red_Fox

Жыл бұрын

@@tylerdavidson2400 I'd rather America stop fucking over regional commuter rail. They put goods over people and it's a piss poor balance not to be envied.

I see Double stack trains every day, even several times a day - In Dallas Texas, However, the infrastructure was almost forgotten as it was implemented. Just sit for 20 minutes ay a rail crossing as it crawled along old lines. That's now happening but AFTER the fact. Australia has done it the right way BEFORE implementation. Oh, BTW I was born in Melbourne over 70 years ago and have lived in Europe, Japan and the USA for nearly 40 years.

@markfryer9880

3 жыл бұрын

Ian you would barely recognise Melbourne nowadays, the place is huge and we now have heaps of apartment towers dotting the skyline. Mark from Melbourne Australia

@richardkralick3062

3 жыл бұрын

@@markfryer9880 That is sadly true all over the world. Toronto changes just about every week. The amount of condo towers (and no one is building apartment buildings anymore in Canada) is out of this world.

@AbsintheBabe

3 жыл бұрын

Over west in WA double stack trains are an every day occurrence, the current route from Perth over the hills to the east has 0 tunnels and built to a generous loading gauge.

In France when they build the TGV lines through farms, the farmers were proud to host the rail lines. If there is compensation and the design addresses farmers' concerns and it is properly engineered, and also the alignment is justified for that route, I don't see there should be a problem for farmers.

@flick4117

3 жыл бұрын

Thats the problem though, I have family who live a couple properties over from where the line was being proposed to go and they did not approach the farmers correctly at all. The farmers along the proposed corridor were basically given a sheet saying "we are coming to investigate your land to determine whether it is suitable, we will be here on these days and you HAVE to accomodate us on these days no matter what and if decide that your land is suitable for the corridor we will give you this rate for it." But the rate they provided was below market rate before the corridor was proposed and the value of the properties dropped significantly. If they had offered a more fair compensation (i.e the market rate BEFORE the corridor was proposed) and were more open to the residents of the areas questions then there would be ALOT less pushback. A way I can describe it for people who haven't faced the issue before is to think of it like a tollway was being built right in the middle of your suburb and you were told "its okay, you can use it too! You should be happy that all these people are going to power our nation by driving through your suburb! Don't worry you will benefit from it as well, you'll be right next to it for easy access!" except you just want to know if your kids school is on the other side of the tollway and you might have to drive an extra 15-30 minutes to go what used to take you 5, this tollway will cause so much more noise and pollution near your house making the value drop and of course you found out from the media so you house that you just paid off is worth half as much and on top of all that you'll still have to pay for the tollway which the government sold to a private company so its just money from people who live around their making some ceo richer! They may pay for your land if they decide to demolish your house to build it but if they do they will only pay market rate at that moment (which is maybe 60% of what it used to be because everyone is moving away from the tollway) but if they don't buy your house you either have to live with the giant tollway or have your house on the market for years to get some of your money back. I can understand the frustration many people have because this railway is a great idea but the approach to the people who are punished simply for living along the corridor was not ok. I know alot of people in the area are very supportive of the idea for the railway but are not happy with how it was handled. Whilst the railway is great because it helps millions of people be better connected, screwing over the thousands whose property was used for it is not ok, especially if the railway will benefit the government as much as they say it will. As the saying goes, you get alot more flies with honey than vinegar and the government couldn't even be arsed to open the vinegar bottle and just decided to throw it at them.

@yggdrasil9039

3 жыл бұрын

@@flick4117 Thanks for sharing. That must be frustrating. You would think they would give some carrot in some form or other (honey in your metaphor), not necessarily financial because you don't want costs to blow out but maybe to do with access or use of the line seeing as those farmers are hosting it, that gives those farmers priority of some sort. I'm not sure what this would be but from what you're saying it sounds like they haven't really thought this through to make sure everyone is a winner in some form or other from this project.

@louithefly

2 жыл бұрын

The problem arises when you get into the cities and houses back right onto the rails

@yggdrasil9039

2 жыл бұрын

@@louithefly True. Exactly why a HSR on the East coast should stick to Western Sydney, connect with the airport and all the major rail lines, and then continue on to Newcastle from Melbourne/Canberra. This would halve the cost from 114B to 60B, which is actually do-able.

@louithefly

2 жыл бұрын

@@yggdrasil9039 I mean it’s hell especially in Melbourne as it’s only 1 sg track and it can’t handle passenger and freight at all stations

Love a good rail connection

cant wait to see that route on locamotive engineers cab camera

Suspect that more people will move to regional centres building up the population there. This will literally open up the small towns to more people from the cities wanting to make a change. I doubt that the line will be used primarily for traffic from Brisbane to Melbourne, but will be used mostly to serve the communities on the line. Great project.

We Australians love to complain and criticise any progress... "not on my land". Many other aspects prevent progress: Infrastructure blowouts due to gauging, red tape and slow building does not help. Privatisation and closing of the heavily used railway Ceduna to Port Lincoln in the Eyre peninsula, South Australia is one example or the removal of sitting carriages for the Interstate Perth and Darwin lines, to make it only affordable for the ultra wealthy. Removal of rail support services in regional large centres like Peterborough SA have decimated employment creating poverty and virtual ghost towns. When I visit my mothers extended family in France I am shocked by great rail infrastructure there and the general culture of patriotism ahead of individualism.

@ThePaulv12

3 жыл бұрын

It is different in Europe though. One of the main reasons is the population density and individual countries within one main landmass. The economies of scale there make things happen whereas here, big distances and a small population lead to some of the maladies you mention.

@desertdog8006

3 жыл бұрын

@@ThePaulv12 thx for reply.

@ThatGuyInTheShed

3 жыл бұрын

To be fair though, the Eyre Peninsula Railway (Ceduna to Pt Lincoln line) was long enough to cross the entire country of France whilst only serving towns with a combined population of less than 20'000 people.

Thank you, I was totally unaware of the inland rail project - better late than never. 😃👌👌👏👏👏

@TheServerGeek

3 жыл бұрын

Same here. I must admit I have not been keeping much of an eye on anything rail related for a few years. Mainly watching many of my older videos and You Tube when time permits. Pleasantly surprised with the forward thinking of whoever kick-started this project. While road transport definitely has it's place, rail transport is way underutilised in a country as large as Australia is.

Hello from Kansas 🇺🇸 great production !

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Many thanks for your kind words :) - Fig (from Australia)

I live near the Brisbane terminus in the suburb of Acacia Ridge. There is also controversy here, with people complaining that there will be too much truck traffic to and from the station. A popular suggestion is to have it terminate at the Port of Brisbane. I'm not qualified to have an opinion either way, but I do want them to get it right the first time.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Since releasing this video I have also seen a suggestion (and then a costed study) for InlandRail to continue north from Toowoomba to Gladstone - with Brisbane being serviced by road transport only. This suggestion seems to address a lot of criticisms coming from those in SEQ. - Fig

@markfryer9880

3 жыл бұрын

@@Figscape You could mount an argument that stopping at Brisbane is selling the project short. An awful lot of out of season fruit and vegetables come down to Melbourne by road. I know because I see the trucks on the Westgate Freeway and the Western Ring Road. Also a lot of trucks headed to and from Adelaide.

Just discovered this channel and, what a pleasant surprise! This video is very well made, I look forward to future videos. I’d be curious on your opinions on public transport infrastructure projects that are happening around Australia.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Many thanks for your kind words, I'm glad you enjoyed! Is there any projects in particular you'd like to see covered? - Fig

@KhanPiesseONE

3 жыл бұрын

@@Figscape Cross River Rail, Melbourne Suburban Rail Loop, Perth Metronet, are some projects I am sure you could make an awesome video on :)

YOu can never have enough high clearance double staking rail lines. You are in for some huge, huge cost savings and efficiencies.

Good to know this project , India had done the same project recently of 2500 kms fully electrified double stack container route for 11 billion dollars , if you have a chance please do a video on that

@fryphillipj560

3 жыл бұрын

What's that one called?

@vamsithunder9996

3 жыл бұрын

@@fryphillipj560 it is called dedicated freight corridor

@tylerdavidson2400

2 жыл бұрын

Cost of labour is way higher in Australia than India. Therefore its cheaper to build rail lines in India.

Are people aware that there is still a unused section of rail between Sydney and Brisbane? This section starts at Armidale and ends on the NSW - Qld border at Wallanangarra. It just needs to be upgraded. Such folly to not use this already established, historical section of track that played such a vital role during WW2.

@AmbianEagleheart

3 жыл бұрын

No. Ill give you some maths as to why. An NR (GE Dash9-40) can haul 1300 t up a 1/40 (2.5%) grade. This is the ruling grade at Ardglen, Kootingal through to the Queensland border. 2 engines can pull the same load up a 1/66 (1.5%) grade as 3 engines can haul up a 1/40 (2.5%). The Main North has steeper grades than the current North Coast line. Factor in the Queensland Railway's alignment and that route will be slower as well. The new line runs parrallel to the Newell Highway. Moree will lose A LOT of money when the railway is built.

@smedleyfarnsworth263

3 жыл бұрын

There is a change of gauge at Wallanangarra to take into account.

@nickhiscock8948

3 жыл бұрын

That route is terrible very tight curves and steep grades over much of the route. Plus everything needs to be transshipped at wallanangarra station due to change of gauge. Another factor is this route does not bypass the Sydney region and trains would still need to crawl through suburban Sydney on there way to Melbourne. One last thing double stacking on that route is virtually impossible to do. Far too many tunnels and tight clearances.

Noise concerns? Would you prefer 1 train or 100 trucks? People will whine about anything.

@miroslawkaras7710

3 жыл бұрын

Or 100 train or one ship?

@jazzybelleverdonwilliams4978

3 жыл бұрын

@@miroslawkaras7710 ships take to long to traverse the coasts and don't support inland communities

I hope it's real - Australian governments (both State and Federal) have a very long history of *announcing* infrastructure projects, complete with expensive CGI mockups of the thing being built and operating...

3:58 Also Mexico operates double stack intermodal trains in most of its mainlines

European, Chinese, and US studies into the effects of additional rail infrastructure on modal switching indicate that this will not happen, so no fewer trucks will be seen on roads. However, the same studies also show that there is a much reduced increase in road freight traffic where competitive rail freight alternatives are provided. The key word here is competitive. If the reliability, frequency, costs, and transit times of Inland Rail are not better than road, the expected uptake will not happen and the Federal Government will have delivered a $10 billion white elephant.

@TheBombson

3 жыл бұрын

critical thinking 💆🏻‍♂️

What a brilliant synopsis on this project. Excellently presented.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the kind words!

thanks I loved it, I want to know more about the corridor decision.

@simoneldridge94

3 жыл бұрын

You can find out more information in the Inland Rail Route History 2006 - 2020 which is available on the ARTC Inland Rail website.

was looking at some of the footage thinking this doesn't look like Australian vegetation. however kudos for at least using footage with vehicle travelling on the left side of the road. Oh and I laughed my head off at the brilliant way you handled traffic noise at 8:45 - ZOOOOOOOOOM!! =) loved it. great video narration, well done

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah - I've written a bunch of comments about the footage... there's just not much Australian stock footage, let alone of the railways. Most of the footage is just flipped one way or the other to get everything on the right side. Even if the surrounding location isn't quite right, I think it serves its purpose. Glad you enjoyed the ZOOOOOOM - I had done about 12 or 13 takes, and I was just like y'know what, I'm just going to leave it. I swear all the loud cars, sirens, power tools and lawn mowers start up whenever I'm recording narration! I'm really glad you enjoyed the video! Thankyou for watching :) - Fig

Hi there! New to your channel. Your video is well-researched, well-written and well-presented. I'm now subscribed with the bell on. Well done!

Informative ,great job mate everything I wanted to know

Now we just need high speed rail for people, joining all capital cities. Like Melbourne to Sydney in a couple hours fast.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

You'll get no argument from me there. It's been talked about so many times but I don't think the business case is quite feasible enough yet. The costs remain too high. I do hope to be able to ride on Australian high speed rail in my life time, but I'm not sure I will. So for now, I'll stand in awe of the Chinese, European and Japanese high speed networks. - Fig

@taddies2

3 жыл бұрын

What about Canberra?

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

The way I see it, should an Australian high speed rail ever come to fruition, it would have to pass through Canberra. To me, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sydney, Canberra, Albury-Wodonga and Melbourne would HAVE to be stops on the route. Probably an extra stop or two on the NSW North Coast as well. Thats the way I see it at least. - Fig

@taddies2

3 жыл бұрын

@@Figscape Having travelled on "The Highland Chieftain" from Inverness then doing Canberra to Melbourne then Sydney I can only feel embarrassment for Aussis mind these new Asumas are trying to bring us down to that level the First class seats need to be sat on slowly god help standard. no wonder people use Quantas

Very timely and informative video. Thank you.

I hope Amazon is helping to pay for it,

No doubt you are familiar with HS2 now underway between London and the North. We all love railways it seems but love even more all the discussion and emotion they produce. Now we have an argument that it is quicker to go by email than train. But it seems your rail will be all about mainly freight. Yes keep it off the roads, and good luck with what sounds like an exciting project.

Future business suggestion for someone...HUGE coffee shop/food service facility at Wagga Wagga... The name is the draw..." Ayy, mates, let's layova at Wagga Wagga for a touch"....

I very much enjoyed this video. Well made. As you requested I have a suggestion for a new video. A bit hard to explain in a few words, but I will try to be a concise as possible. I have lived in Sydney, Melbourne and a few smaller cities in the UK in the 1990s. It amazed me how well the British kept cars moving and congestion reasonable. The big cities like London would be the exception but still do it well. In one statement the bulk of congestion is caused by intersections. Different techniques can alleviate, but ultimately traffic banks back. Coming back to Australia it amazed me that we don't implement more of these techniques, the best one in my opinion being grade separated suburban trunk routes. Instead we have traffic lights every 500m causing huge congestion. To this day we still don't do it. Would you like to review the efficiencies gained by grade separating our suburban trunk routes, but more importantly why it is not done?

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

This is a very fascinating video suggestion - and question to have answered - and I've added it to my list of video ideas. Thank you! - Fig

lets hope they also electrify it. that would be good and double track it all

Yay! At a time when we need investment to boost the economy, this is great. Hope they join the dot with this one. Boosting inland economies will really change the social landscape.

This looks to be a great project but it would also do well to add a significant focus on passenger trains as well, not just cargo, seeing as HS trains are the future of travels and a vast country like Aussie needs some HS Lines. I think it is be great for Australia. Admirable.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Passenger rail infrastructure in Australia is quite poor. Ridership is low as people prefer flying or driving to riding the rails. Unfortunately, this feeds into the business case for high speed rail - and is why it most likely won't ever be built. In addition, I believe a HS line in Australia would have to run Brisbane-Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne, with stops at major cities in between (Gold Coast, Newcastle, Albury-Wodonga, and maybe Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie). So the InlandRail allignment wouldn't really work for that. I do see passenger service on the line as a possibility, however I believe it would be a service akin to The Ghan or Indian Pacific, operated by Journey Beyond. That said, its encouraging to see significant rail investment. So, its a start. I hope I'm wrong about HSR in Australia. - Fig

@tylerdavidson2400

2 жыл бұрын

@Figscape With Gen-Z being averse to driving ( even in ‘Murica, the land of big cars), we have some hope. I have family in US and have Gen-Z members amongst them who prefer ride-share to driving. I am pretty sure that trend will catch up here also and would potentially push politicians to build our own HSR.

Thank for the information ℹ️

@Figscape Well put together presentation. Keep up the great work!.

Good info thanks for sharing. Best wishes and cheers.

OK. Just an FYI the largest public infrastructure project Australia has seen would be Sydney Metro (in terms of $).

About time They are building this rail network.

Rail has always been better than roads.

@PaulSmith-ns1lw

2 жыл бұрын

Crap

@ashdog236

2 жыл бұрын

@@PaulSmith-ns1lw lol it is

Would have been great to see some analysis on how many freight currently trucks transit between Brisbane and Melbourne daily. Actually, that would be the key question to ask wouldn't it? Towns along the IR route aren't large enough to move freight movements. $10bn seems a lot for a handful of saved trucks

@DounutCereal

3 жыл бұрын

Currently they share track with slow stopping all stations passenger trains down the coast and then smack head first into the sydney network, jammed behind trains that stop for a station every 2km with overhead wires so low you'd have no hope of running double stacks unless you lifted 10's of thousands of overhead cable masts and then modified the whole sydney trains fleet with taller pantographs to reach the taller wires. Almost none of the freight originates along the route, anything that isn't coming from Brisbane or Melbourne ends up on a truck as customers want it *now* and a truck can deliver door to door like that. The inland route is so that farm produce that is currently trucked to the coast and then along it can instead be put on the train much closer to where it comes from in bulk loading centres and sent straight to the main ports of Brisbane and Melbourne as well as decongesting the coastal route of freight that has nothing to do with the area. Regional container ports are starting to boom and grow such as SCT Banawartha and Regional Connect Ettamogah, even Fletchers International has grown a 1.5km train out of almost thin air, enough that they've purchased several brand new heavy haul locomotives to move it. The line is supposed to encourage more of these kinds of rural produce ports to be built along it to soak up several hundred km radius of traffic and load it from rural hub to international port instead of hundreds of long distance trucks heading to the city from far flung corners of the state

OMG, that seems that the rail infrastructure in the Australia is really poor. Well, at least a step in the right direction...

Before there was Australia, there were six chartered colonies. Each of these had its own engineer with his own idea about the proper gauge for a railroad. As recently as fifty years ago, it was still not possible to cross Australia on a single set of wheels.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, indeed. While I do try to include significant background for my videos, I neglected to mention Australia's inconsistent track gauge in this video. In regards to it, I suppose as time went on, the benefit of using just one gauge compared to the cost to standardise the entire nation probably growing to a prohibitive amount started to diminish. And, as with anything, I'm not sure all states would play ball. Regardless, thanks for watching the video! - Fig

Honestly. We need to finally agree on a standard gauge across the nation. It'd be incredibly expensive in the short term, but in the long term could save costs. No more interchanges, trains could theoretically go anywhere across Australia, in the process of transitioning lines to standard gauge we could make them viable for double stacking, more competition for freight costs, more competition for locomotive and rolling stock procurement. Another thing I'd love to see in the Northwest Queensland line connect to the Adelaide-Darwin rail corridor at Tennant Creek. Which then connects QLD directly to SA and the NT. Rather than having to go around.

Most of the costs of the entire project is the Toowoomba to Acacia Ridge section. They have not done any budgetting to get the 'last mile' (it's a lot more than that to the Port of Brisbane), to take freight off of the primarily passenger rail network. Tunnelling from the 'Acacia Ridge segment' is believed to be costing nearly as much as the whole project of it so far. How is that going to make the project financially viable ? Toowoomba intermodal base, and then run Inland Rail to the deep water port of Gladstone.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

I'm going to reply to just this comment as it makes the same point, just in different words, to your other one. My (quite flawed) understanding, was that trains would terminate at Acacia Ridge, with road freight taking some of the load, before a local freight service between there and the Port of Brisbane. Upon reflection that really doesn't seem an ideal situation. Both in terms of road traffic and increased use of the Brisbane suburban network - especially near the junction around Boggo Road (which potentially only gets busier when CRR is complete?). A tunnel seems to be the necessary solution, or an alternative portside rail head. Given that Toowoomba will host an air/rail/road hub, Gladstone seems the ideal choice. This is a perspective I didn't find or potentially just missed and thus overlooked while researching and writing - I'm still learning how best to do both of these, and will endeavour to expose as many perspectives as I can find in future. Nonetheless, thankyou for watching, and for commenting (twice).

@zelious9464

2 жыл бұрын

@@Figscape I'm not sure if anything has changed in 10 months, but I believe there is a direct freight line from Acacia Ridge to the port of Brisbane, but that doesn't really matter anyway since most of the freight on the line is expected to be domestic anyway. That's also what killed the Gladstone suggestion since it would just result in freight to Brisbane being unloaded at Toowoomba and taking the new Second Range Crossing by truck to Brisbane. As nice as that new highway is, it can't take that number of containers. The containers travelling from out west via truck already strain the route. And the existing rail line from Toowoomba to Brisbane is also unsuitable for double stacked containers and goes through Toowoomba city which would make approval from the local council near impossible to get. All of this resulted in Inland Rail needing to continue from Toowoomba to Brisbane, or the whole project would be near pointless.

Very informative video thanks sir.

I can see an opportunity for a budget airline to set up shop in Parkes. Because it is centrally located from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Coolangatta and Canberra, it could serve high frequency flights, using low costs jets like Airbus A220, Embraer E jets, props like ATR-72, between these cities. Parkes shall serve as a low-cost hub. Remember, once that is done, you can also make Parkes as an international airport. You can attract international airlines by have lower landing and parking fees. This is where the budget airlines can feed flights to the cities, attracting more business and economic opportunities for Parkes. Can you imagine, air freight traffic lands in Parkes from around the globe? This is where Parkes, multi-modal comes into play. With the real estate costs of the cities reaching stratospheric limits, Parkes is a genuine place of possibilities. Road upgrades are also good to have. Rural NSW will have a shot in the arm with this thinking...

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

I really wouldn't hold your breath waiting for that to happen, for a few reasons... With a population of ~11k its simply to small to support that kind of operation, even if it experiences growth off the back of the InlandRail project. Perhaps most crucially, however, Australian's would prefer to just take *one* flight, such as Brisbane-Melbourne (34th busiest air route in the world) as opposed to Brisbane-Parkes-Melbourne, Brisbane-Sydney (18th busiest air route in the world) as opposed to Brisbane-Parkes-Sydney, or Sydney-Melbourne (3rd busiest air route in the world) as opposed to Sydney-Parkes-Melbourne. Australian's already prefer air over rail due to time, and this would be the same with air-only - why stop at all when you can fly direct? A stop in Parkes for any of these, or indeed any of the other routes you suggest would just add time, and likely cost, as well as increased emissions (less fuel is burned at higher altitudes, with, naturally, a lot used during climb - thus a direct flight saves emissions). Parkes as a multimodal hub between road and rail is a great solution - but air is a whole different beast, and in this regard I'd suggest one that would be better suited to Toowoomba. A population of ~140k, with its Wellcamp airport able to (and already) accomodating international freight traffic, with aircraft as large as the 747-8 - as well as the proposed multimodal hub with air, road and rail. Its already a diversion option for the other airports in the south-east Queensland region, Brisbane, Coolangatta-Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. While I like your enthusiasm, I don't see it as at all being realistic. That all having been said, low cost air travel isn't really a thing in Australia, for the same reason that high-speed rail isn't - our small population, and low density make it largely unfeasible. Hope that all makes sense. Thanks for your comment, I hope you enjoyed the video. - Fig

@muzaffarmohamad

3 жыл бұрын

I have travelled in that part of NSW before. Have travelled across Newell Highway, New England Highway, and other nearby highways before, all the way between Brisbane and Melbourne. I knew this part of NSW well. It is not a question of just enlarging the metropolitan areas of the coastal cities. But rather to bring the population growth into rural NSW. As agriculture becomes more mechanised, the country towns lose it young to the cities. Parkes is not Albury, of the old, but with a twenty-first century view, it could thrive into a hub city. NSW government should think of this. A hub city can attract businesses, industry and technology, drawn by the low cost of property and the infrastructure that's available. Parkes can even become an international gateway, offering cheap landing fees. There's a real greenfield opportunity for this city. With houses reaching a million dollars in the cities, this could be a potential relief, besides providing potential growth. Think about it...

I noticed numerous video clips from Chattanooga. Choo Choo! It’s nice to hear about new railroad investment on any side of the globe.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you could place some clips, I always enjoy spotting places I know in videos. Unfortunately the selection of Australian and railway clips in the stock footage collections I have access to leaves a little to be desired, hence the international flavour to the footage. It definitely is great to see new investment, but I can't help but feel jealous of those in the UK, there always seems to be a major new rail project there. - Fig

@chatt

3 жыл бұрын

@@Figscape I don’t see much footage from Australia compared to other places, so I’m not surprised! You did a good job avoiding content that would seem too specifically regional. 👍🏼

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

@@chatt It can make the videos a bit harder to make, but I do try to make the most of what I have access to - such as the creative use of horizontal and vertical flips to at least get everything on the right sides and what not. Thanks again for your kind words :) - Fig

Indeed they should consider building two lines. One outside the cities for the goods and one fast track for people going in the cities. The splitting showed significant raises of railway popularity in Italy for example. High velocity trains (350 km/h) don't have to share the track with slow trains and you get from town to town in no time!

@DounutCereal

3 жыл бұрын

There's been tonnes of case studies for high speed rail, you'd have to build a whole new alignment from scratch through the most densely populated areas in the country just so most people could still just get in their cars instead of the train

The limitations of the of the North Coat Line to operate double stack freight trains is not payloads or curvature, it is vertical clearance. That vast majority of track mileage in the United States that can accommodate double stack freight trains was built more then a century ago. Railroads in the United States have spent billions of dollars over the last 40 years upgrading the mileage to run double stack freight trains. Less then two weeks ago CSX got environmental approval to upgrade the last segment of their primary railroad network between Philadelphia and Baltimore to run double stack freight trains that originally opened 135 years.

I should also add, well done on the video!

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Many thanks for your kind words! - Fig

Good Video mate

Great channel!

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Many thanks for your kind words :) - Fig

Im working on the Albury to Parkes section and its great

They should have built a new four lane inland motorway from Brisbane to Melbourne to be used by everyone including electric semis. They could have connected the Hume Highway from Canberra to Bathurst and then to Willow Tree, which would take you up to Tamworth, Armidale and then up to Brisbane with a Toowoomba offshoot. They need to start building a proper insterstate highway system with the addition of Sydney to Adelaide, Melbourne to Adelaide, Adelaide to Perth and Brisbane to Cairns.

@ACDZ123

4 ай бұрын

EV semis 😂 woke much

@bena8121

3 ай бұрын

@@ACDZ123 Let me guess you are from out bush?

@ACDZ123

3 ай бұрын

@bena8121 nah inner city Perth... Western Australia is huge and hot ant EV trucks are not an option lol 😆

Interesting clip thanks

Superb my man

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Alex - glad you enjoyed! 😊

Weird how out of all the options my Economics exam said that boosting rail funding would best make Australia internationally competitive

Excellent content. Subbed.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Thankyou for your kind words :) - Fig

would LOVE to see if this investment into freight infrastructure can eventually lead to city centres building terminal markets where the train stops right next to the farm, gets goods loaded right on and travels directly into the city instead of trucks needing to do the inbetween work (would dramtically bring down the cost of produce as well which when it comes to australia tends to have a lot higher prices for groceries compared to the uk and other european countries directly caused by our population spreading out once cars were introduced)

I live in Seymour and they've already upgraded the lines from here to Melb a couple of years ago.

Great program.

What is needed is a high speed roll on/roll off freight train that trailers are loaded onto as done in the US. The trailers stay loaded and the train would leave when loaded but that may not work as it appears that a large portion of this project is single rail. We need a very high speed freight network in this country due to the trip distances that we have and while commendable this is nothing like high speed. It is reckoned that a truck a night is lost on the Hume between Sydney and Melbourne and I have spoken to drivers who use that road every night and they say that the biggest danger is a truck crossing the reservation between the north and south bound lanes when the driver falls asleep. Triple trailers are driven from Parkes to Perth basically non stop using two drivers and that is just madness. In the end freight movement is all about efficiency and having worked in the industry both as a driver and a manager I have yet to see any attempt to bring efficiency into the system.

@darylcheshire1618

3 жыл бұрын

Concerning that there is pressure on drivers by the truck companies to drive long hours.

@DounutCereal

3 жыл бұрын

We tried something similar-ish to that around 20 years ago but didn't have the height clearances for it at the time so it never took off, trailerail needed all new trailers with incredibly solid frames, the piggyback style the US does is way better and with double stack clearances it'll be worth having another go at it imo. Currently the only place that can be done is Adelaide/ Darwin or Parkes/Perth and nobody's really looked at it recently

I'm glad to see that someone doesn't just push to use rail for passengers. It's SO much more efficient to use rail for freight rather than passengers.

@brackenboy6321

3 жыл бұрын

@timeless36 It is being built for freight which is what the video is about, passengers may come later with Journey Beyond rather than commuter services.

@Timeless1976

3 жыл бұрын

@@brackenboy6321 People can still complain about no passengers sadly.

@NullaNulla

3 жыл бұрын

BOTH are a thing for rail but the passenger side is better up the existing north coast and south coast tracks due to the towns already being serviced there (I'm on a major stop on the north coast line).

@ThatGuyInTheShed

3 жыл бұрын

Yes a well known rail saying was "if it breathes it's not worth carting".

@PaulSmith-ns1lw

2 жыл бұрын

@@brackenboy6321 and how from the railway station to the destination will happen?

Interesting when people say that have not received sufficient answers to their questions, often the answer becomes insufficient when it is not the answer they want. Or they made a random statement like in one of the articles shown stating that there are red flags, followed by observations that the trains will be long, the project will be expensive and taxpayer funded.

australia needs to improve all of its train infrastructure honestly, but i feel starting off with freight paves a pretty good path to make more efficient passenger rail that beats car speeds, unlike the current situation where going from brisbane to gold coast takes half an hour longer by train when it really should be demolishing the cars in a race

I "hate" watching videos like this; it just illustrates how backwards we in South Africa have become and how hopelessly useless our government is. Well done on this.

@markfryer9880

3 жыл бұрын

@@IntrospectorGeneral Yeah, only taken a century to get serious about the idea.

This is fabulous! Though, given the double stacking, I'm assuming this won't be an electrified line? It'd be a shame if not because that really would contribute to lowering freight-produced carbon emissions, and would no doubt be cheaper to install with the building of the line than after the fact in a few decade's time. And will much of it still be single track? If they could make it a solid double track the entire way they could realistically run passenger services on the line too, which would provide another path of travel between the two cities and would boost the local economies surrounding the line (potentially easing many of the negative viewpoints from locals affected by the line's route and make even more of a business case for it).

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Unfortunately I doubt this line will be electrified. Outside of the suburban rail networks, the rest of Australia's network is non-electrified, and operated by various classes and types of diesel rolling stock. And even in those suburban networks, power is delivered through overhead wires, which, if implemented on InlandRail, adds to the height clearance conundrum. Third or fourth rail electrification would be necessary and I don't believe that's implemented anywhere in the country. As for passengers along the route - the only way I realistically see it happening is if a private luxury service (akin to The Ghan or Indian Pacific) is launched. As the route avoids significant population centres: the Gold Coast, north New South Wales coast (and its various towns of ~20000-60000 odd people), Newcastle/Hunter Valley, Sydney and Canberra. - Fig

@DounutCereal

3 жыл бұрын

The electrification costs whether built with or after the line would be about the exact same, but if built with it it'll will put the costs into the 'too expensive, we're not doing it' pile and we really need this line built. Spending billions building overhead cables and the powerstations to power it and somehow materialising non existent electric locomotives out of thin air and convincing the rail companies to then buy them is not really reasonable at this stage of the project. There are no off the shelf electric locomotive designs that would work here in Aus, the only ones available are european, small short trip rain style ones, not heavy haul 2+km long interstate freight ones

Greetings from Canada! Aside from the major cities, Australia has some funny names for towns.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

You won't get any disagreements here. We seemingly have two moods: very funny names or very accurate names. Redcliffe - there was a red cliff Coals Point - there was coal there Broken Hill - the hill appears broken Theres many more examples of this too. - Fig

@tubester4567

3 жыл бұрын

@@Figscape Most of the funny names are aboriginal names. Wagga Wagga is Aboriginal

@mabamabam

3 жыл бұрын

Like Winipeg, Kamloops, or Leduc?

@haweater1555

3 жыл бұрын

@@mabamabam It shows that both of our countries have a lot of place names borrowed from our Indigenous Peoples.

@YoungHarry1000

3 жыл бұрын

I'm an Aussie/Canuck, and I can tell you that Canada also has many funny town names: Dildo, Labrador and Newfoundland, and Climax, Saskatchewan are pretty good.

Good plan!

This inland rail project is badly needed still hopefully the designers and engineers can build it thinking of people that are affected. Nobody wants excessive noise. I counted trucks on the Hume Hwy and it was insane. That's frustrating for not just truckers but also civilians who are forced to put up with noise and the risks associated with thousands of trucks. Hopefully they build this rail project properly without embezzling billions which often get siphoned off for prostitutes home improvements and other goodies. Great for them of they get away with it but very bad for the nation as a whole who end up paying for it if its supported by goverment. Corruption is bad because cost blowout and some greedy pigs benefit while the rest suffer.

The addiction to double stacked containers really needs to be nipped in the bud as it prevents electrification which will ne needed "soon". When you look at the HUGE air gap between each pair of containers, moving to single stacked where container are much closer does not double train length and also reduces air friction. With ligher load per axle, the train can also go faster because it needs less distance to brake. Diesel railways love them because they dont care about speed or fuel efficiency because they cauyse only about maximizing how mush one crew carries in orde rto cut salaries. But they really need to wake up on the need to move to electrification. If InlandRail had been made narrow gauge, Inland rail would connect all of Queensland to all of Victoria, whereas with standard gauge, it is just industries along the lone standard gauge track in Brisbane servinng same in Melbourne, Adelaide or Perth. It becomes easier to load cargo on truck that doesn't need to be transhipped twice along the way to reach destination. Granted Brisbane will have more efficient shipping to Adelaide and Perth. But doubt Darwin by rail would be competitive vs road due to the long detour.

@again5162

Жыл бұрын

I'm not an expert but diesel is far superior for reliability in long haul freight which is this lines purpose. Every major capital in the East has a electric train system for passengers. Freight lines should be double stacked and remain diesel. Some people don't realise on such a long line maintenance depots have to built and this is where diesel dominates the field

@jfmezei

Жыл бұрын

@@again5162 Diesel lines that have double stackled tracks prevent standard electrification. India as electrified one line with abnorkally high catenaries and special pantographs, but is speed limited due to pantographas. Normal pax train pantographs won't won't on that line.

This scheme does make good sense to me. $11 billion is peanuts, compared with the nearly £100 billion being wasted on Britain's High Speed 2 line which goes from a London station with poor connectivity (Euston) via another poorly sited London station (Old Oak Common) to a station in Birmingham (Curzon Street) which is even worse. To make matters worse, the line will not even connect to the existing High Speed 1 line from St. Pancras to the Channel Tunnel. I wish our government would spend $11 billion on a dedicated freight line instead rather than the destructive vanity scheme that is HS2 (Like Tony Blair's Millennium Dome which was an expensive flop). So go for it, Australia, and don't let China get involved.

The official date for completion is 2027, but that is unlikely. The most expensive bit is in Queensland, and that hasn't really started yet.

The volume of trucking movements will be multiplied at both ends of the task but with shorter distances. This will create problems of queing, noise and traffic volumes. It also allows road operation savings and drivers operating company vehicles doing shifts which will make operating the trucks more efficient. So there will be less owner drivers and a movement to owner operators of freight trucking. Drivers can be family based again. Later it would not surprise if a few high speed hybrid (freight and passenger) trains are run as direct overnighters. Great for tourists, backpackers, low income earners and retired people not in a hurry.Some in the truck service industries will go 24 hour as the value will be of sufficient demand locally at major transfer points both city and regional. The benefits will be spread wide. On the other side thousands of trucks every day will not be using roadhouses. However you cant load or unload these 1.8klm trains instantly, so train arrival will not mean the container being available for pickup. When they invest in speeding up load availability and unloading times then the magic will happen. This will be the value system base. With about 50 long crossing loops or sidings the single track of substance will be a great improvement.

a fair and reasonable effort. and more footage of the work than artic has posted on the inland rail channel. so where did you get your footage from?

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Many thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed. ALL clips used from other KZread channels have their sources overlaid in the video, and links provided in the description. If I recall correctly I used footage from 2 or 3 videos from the Inland Rail channel and chopped it up, tho I believe one or two of these are unlisted, but they are found in a Playlist on their channel. I supplemented these with clips from a Moree Plains council video, and others as needed, again sources overlaid in video, linked in description. Any footage with no overlay is STOCK footage used under license from MotionArray, Pexels or Pixabay. Hope that helps 😊

@EllieMaes-Grandad

3 жыл бұрын

So much footage is repeated, time after time. Poor show.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

I can only use what footage exists. In terms of InlandRail video footage, I used some of the content from the InlandRail KZread channel. If you'd like to see more, just search 'InlandRail' and the channel should pop up. I supplemented it with the limited selection of Australian and railway clips in the stock footage collections I have access to. As I don't have the ability to go on location and shoot myself, I have to make use of what I can use. Sorry about that. - Fig

@EllieMaes-Grandad

3 жыл бұрын

@@Figscape Thank you. I have drawn attention to a fault common to a lot of u-tube videos these days. If you must re-use footage, why not make some relevant comments at the appropriate time, or use stills . . . ? You end up looking unprofessional.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

If possible, unless I'm talking about the content of a still, I'll avoid using them. To me, making a video that is a collection of still images isn't a video anymore, it's a slide show presentation, and that's not the type of content I want to make. (and I'd argue looks far less professional) I try to balance using more specific footage available under either fair use or creative commons, and fill the gaps with stock footage, as is the intention behind stock footage. I believe my newer videos do a better job of this balance. But I want to re-emphasise that I do try and make the most of what I have access to. I'd also like to note that, regardless, 'repeated stock footage' is less of a concern to me than ensuring the accuracy of what I'm saying in the video. I hope that makes sense? - Fig.

I'm excited for this project except for the deviation via Albury, the original route was further west and would have gone through Tocumwal. The other point of this project is to put good rail freight connections where they aren't already any and from southern NSW to Melbourne is already on the main interstate line, while Tocumwal is a 5' 3" gauge lightly used rural line that can only take freight to Melbourne, that used to connect north from Toc with a 4' 8.5" line until the 70's 80's when it was mothballed It's extremely suspicious that the alignment has been changed partway through the project and suddenly ignores an era known as 'Australias secret dictatorship' that could really do well with better rail freight reaching it, but that's getting into conspiracy theory crap there

@barrymcdonald9868

2 жыл бұрын

Barnaby doesn't like Victoria...

How far is it actually along? The NSW north coast line uses 40 year old passenger trains on a (partly) 150 year old single line. It really needs replacing. Thanks for the video.

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Some sections of the route are operational, but much of it is not, and the routing within Queensland has not yet been finalised, so construction hasn't even begun for that (significant) portion. InlandRail, however, is a freight connection, not a passenger connection. The only passenger I could see ever potentially running over it would be a service akin to Indian Pacific or The Ghan or similar, not a service operated by NSW Trainlink, QR or VLine. With the replacement of the urban, and interurban trains in the NSW metropolitan network, hopefully we can see the XPTs be fazed out. Hope you enjoyed the video :) - Fig

What is the building in the lower left corner at 9:21? Just curious...

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

That building is St Brigids Catholic Church, Red Hill. - Fig

@aalekhine5109

3 жыл бұрын

@@Figscape I have now watched 3 hours of train paths in Aus. I know more than any other American lol

Why not link Bomaderry and Bainsdale and Wollongong to Canberra? Then you get the added benefit of expanded tourism on the NSW south coast and Victorian east coast. At the same time add some tax breaksand funding to regional cities on the rail corridors to take some of the sprawl from Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. Special funding should go to the coastal towns and Albury, Wagga Wagga, Wangaratta, etc.

At 5.01 to 5.02, a beetle on a highway. 🚗

Now don’t get me wrong I love seeing the government invest in rail since the entire network sorely needs it. It does shit me that they didn’t just refurbish the great northern line down to Tamworth that runs nearly parallel to the proposed route of this new line. It simply disregards existing infrastructure and means those towns formerly on the great northern won’t see rail return again.

@Skatted

3 жыл бұрын

I think rail will return in 10 years

@douglachman7330

2 жыл бұрын

It allows other rail activity to not interfere with inland freight operations.

@kalebpeart8458

2 жыл бұрын

@@douglachman7330 I get that but I can also see this new freight line being an excuse to effectively abandon the coastal line north of Coffs. Atm all that runs on that line is maybe a dozen freight trains a day and 2 or 3 XPT services, you take the freight off that and it’s going to pretty much end the necessity for keeping the section north of Coffs open. Also if this new lines being built to ARTC standards I’ll be keen to see how shotty it is when it’s finished 👀

Someone should tell those farmers that it will be cheaper to ship their own crops by rail.

@edwardbarnett6571

3 жыл бұрын

I have read that they sometimes prefer to use containers rather than mix it with poorer quality for the customer.

@Froggability

3 жыл бұрын

Efficient rail can export the mouse plague even faster

@TheMrPeteChannel

3 жыл бұрын

@@edwardbarnett6571 rail can do that 2.

2 tracks each way for freight and 2 each way on sg and bg for passengers

We need more rail.....

woo trains

Wow

Cool

Why they not use sea ferry?

This is a really good video ! The only thing I'd improve is making the music a little louder, because I could barely hear it, and I think it adds a lot to these types of videos

@brackenboy6321

3 жыл бұрын

@FrogTV How different we all are! I watch documentaries out of interest, not to listen to music. I find loud music very distracting and unnecessary, I often switch off TV docos because I can't hear the dialogue.

When Metro was being built in Sydney, rural NSW complained that their region wasn’t getting any infrastructure. When this is proposed they say NO!

@jashugg

3 жыл бұрын

This infrastructure doesn’t actually benefit the regions significantly, it just cuts through their farms. It’s not like they are building local hospitals or dams or similar.

@xr6lad

3 жыл бұрын

@@jashugg which is a short sighted view as you just proved. Once the rails are there - people can agitate for stations etc. Oh and the work force alone also ensures that in some towns those infrastructure projects get built to cater for them and also subsequently encourage others to move further out.

@colconn57

3 жыл бұрын

NIMBY!!!!

It would actually be awesome if this project was designed from the get go to allow electric trains to be used. Australia has such an amazing level of untapped solar radiation that would be ideal for powering this project and running off electric would be quieter and cleaner. Australia has massive resources for generating electricity but fairly limited resources for oil/diesel and the governments are still designing projects for fossil fuel power :O

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

Yes - its tremendously disappointing how little wind and, particularly, solar energy production occurs in Australia. I'm not sure the InlandRail will ever be electrified - I think the clearances required would become prohibitive (although I could be wrong - and I hope I am) - Fig

@DounutCereal

3 жыл бұрын

It could be at a later stage, but 100's of thousands of catenary masts and 1000's of kms of cables and the immense infrastructure to power it all is more of a stage two of the project, electrifying it from the get go shoves it into the 'too expensive' price bracket and we'd never get the infrastructure at all, or it stays in endless feasability study limbo for 45 years. At least getting the heavy haul infrastructure in place is what matters at this stage imo

I wonder has there been consideration to _electrify_ Inland Rail so the new doublestack trains will be pulled by electric locomotives?

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

That is an interesting point - but I'd suggest probably not. Australia's various networks of electrified railways are powered by overhead wires - which would add to the vertical clearance challenges. Third or fourth rail electrification would have to be the solution - but as its so different to what's currently employed, I'm not sure I see it happening. - Fig

@bryanc8439

3 жыл бұрын

This seems to have been done in India. But then again there probably more advanced on rail infrastructure than we are here.

@Sacto1654

3 жыл бұрын

@@Figscape I think it can be done, but using a modified Wabtec/GE diesel-electric locomotive with a frame and body high enough you don't need an unwieldy, long pantograph like what India did.

@ianmorris7485

3 жыл бұрын

Electrification of Inland Rail would be utterly impractical right now, for many reasons. Cost is obviously one, especially the additional cost of getting an electricity supply to the railway and the cost of all the necessary sub-stations. Then there are the issues of different voltages - at the Brisbane end their network runs 25kV AC whereas at the Melbourne end their network runs 1.5kV DC. Yes that can be overcome but is adds cost. Then there is the environmental impact, given that so much of Australia's electricity is generated by fossil fuels, there is no current reasonable need to electrify. As for third rail electrification, yikes! As far as I know, all third rail systems use DC power for some sound technical reasons, but DC is a VERY inefficient method of powering railways as current loss is a major problem, hence why power sub-stations have to be much closer together, increasing the cost even further. In addition, the current draw of a 1,800 metre train would probably be beyond the capacity of a third rail system.

@Sacto1654

3 жыл бұрын

@@ianmorris7485 Australia runs on mostly diesel electric locomotives anyway. It’ll probably stay an unelectrified line for the near-term future.

Double stacked is silly. It will reduce potential speed and thwart electrification which should have priority! And what about passenger rail?

@uzziya6392

2 жыл бұрын

Forgive me for the wall of text. You can have double-stacked containers on electrified lines. India does a lot of that and even some parts of the Western Unites States including the Northern section of what will eventually form part of California's high speed rail project. Even outside actual bullet trains, the p42's that haul Amtrak's Superliner services operate exclusively on lines capable of hauling double-stacked containers and regularly reach speeds of 110mph (177kmph) which is already faster than any train in Australia with the Charger locomotives hauling the same services on the same lines set to reach 125mph (201kmph) which faster than any standard gauge train in Australia has ever reached even during testing. Inland Rail isn't a high speed service but you can run fast, electric trains on lines with the clearance for double-stacked containers and some places already do. Private freight railway companies (particularly here and in America) don't like their lines being electrified or designed for high speeds but that's more to do with them operating slow diesel locomotives almost exclusively. Essentially, when running a diesel train on an electrified fast line they see it as paying for infrastructure they're not using. Which they don't like and is a big reason why Inland Rail isn't electrified. Not because it can't be done. Just because freight railways, the ARTC's customers which they designed the line for, don't like it. Though thanks to a deal with the Queensland state government, some of the sections around South East Queensland will be electrified and capable of >130kmph, but only those sections. As for passenger services: The ARTC is not a railway. They do not run any kind of service, passenger or otherwise. If you want a passenger service run on Inland Rail then it'll have to be one of the private or state run railways since Commonwealth Rail has long since been sold off. Queensland Rail's Toowoomba Fast Train and the new Beaudesert commuter line will use some new sections of Inland Rail but not the whole thing. I would be very surprised if V/Line and Journey Beyond didn't also do the same with their services that already exist along the corridor. There is currently no plan for a train running from Brisbane to Melbourne using the Inland Rail alignment though and there probably won't be. Interstate rail services are more than a little politically difficult to support.

Great video 👍🏻 It’s the only way move stuff by rail 😀

No way that will be operational in 2025

Is this a high speed rail?

@Figscape

3 жыл бұрын

No, it is just a new rail freight corridor. Unfortunately, I'm not too confident Australia will ever see investment into high speed rail. -Fig

@DounutCereal

3 жыл бұрын

If 115 - 130km/h freight trains count, then yes