RWTA Supporting the Cold Chain In Queensland; Cross River Rail

The Story

The Issue: There is significant concern regarding a proposed three-week disruption to the rail network as part of the Queensland Rail Cross River Rail Project in January 2024.

The Situation: Consumables and goods are delivered daily to northern Queensland, while fresh locally grown produce is transported out of Far North Queensland to the rest of Australia. There will be serious disruptions to deliveries.

The Impact: As a service that relies on the efficient operation of the rail network, there will be detrimental impacts on environmental health, safety and wellbeing of our communities across northern Queensland.

The timing of the proposed disruption further compounds potential impacts of the closure due to the January holiday period which is traditionally a time of high demand across supply chains.

To ensure continuity of service throughout the proposed closure period, heavy vehicles would need to be deployed to replace the containers that are normally transported via rail.

To support the logistics freight requirements of the region, more than 1,500 B-double trucks would be required to replace the rail services over the three-week period.

The industry simply does not have the vehicular infrastructure to support the deployment of an additional 1,500+ trucks required to replace freight.

Even with the most robust business continuity systems in place, it would be impossible to provide enough services to major retailers in the region and beyond. The disruption will likely result in scenarios reminiscent of the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic with empty shelves and potential panic buying.

In addition there will be environmental, health and safety issues putting that many trucks on the road network during a peak holiday travel period due to:

• Increased heavy vehicle traffic on thoroughfares already experiencing increased traffic due to holiday makers.

• Increased wear and tear of additional heavy vehicles on roads.

• Increased environmental impacts of having 1,500 additional heavy vehicles on the road.

• Likelihood of significant grocery shortages across Far North Queensland.

• Increased cost of goods due to contingency road freight costing suppliers 200% more than equivalent service via rail.

Proposed Solution: An alternative solution would be for QR/ TMR reconsider the duration of rail shutdown and consider viable maintenance alternatives, for example shorter shutdowns but with increased frequency to allow for efficient business continuity planning with increased loads and runs to prepare for shutdowns.The RWTA has requested that there be further consultation with Industry throughout this process, and implore Queensland Rail to consider alternative solutions. 

Marianne Kintzel was interviewed yesterday on 4BC Radio. Click below to listen.