Why Australia moves so little freight by rail

Рет қаралды 5,020

Күн бұрын

Why isn't Australia's cargo rail network as good as it could be? What's holding it back? In this video I explain how the freight train system of Australia works, its tumultuous history and where it's going in the future.
If you enjoy the video please like and subscribe!
Support me with Ko-Fi! ko-fi.com/citymoose
Stock imagery, videos and audio sourced from PixaBay

Пікірлер: 36

@stepforddriverviewau 9 ай бұрын

just a note that South Australia and Victoria were the only adjacent australian states to share the same rail gauge using 1600mm broad gauge. standard gauge was only intorduced into SA with the trans australian railway

@TheSilmarillian Жыл бұрын

fellow Australian here remote rural nicely done ,have been watching the inland rail work they are removing not just the old tracks but replacing the ballast and ties then brand new rail, it has been redone to allow twin stacked containers to to be brought in .

@70sVRsignalman 8 ай бұрын

Hello All, 1 / it should be pointed out that Irish Broad Gauge 5'3" was supposed to be Australia's standard gauge. NSW, decided, against all advise, to build its first railway at British Standard Gauge 4' 8 1/2". Subsequently NSW declined, despite advice to the contrary, to build all future lines to Standard Gauge, contrary to the agreement to use the Irish Broad Gauge.2 / Tasmania's first railway was Broad Gauge 5"3'', but, as a result of NSW not adhering to the Broad Gauge agreement, built all future lines to 3'6" / Cape Gauge.3 / Both Victoria, and South Australia / SA stuck with Broad Gauge, though some subsequent SA lines were built to Cape Narrow Gauge. Both Queensland / Qld and Western Australia / WA built to the Cape Narrow Gauge, primarily for cost reasons, and as neither Qld, WA ( & Tasmania ) interchanged with other railways, it was not a problem until the 1920s.4 / And then we come to the Commonwealth Railways Trans Australia Railway / TAR ( Port Pirie, SA - Kalgoorlie WA ) ( both Port Pirie & Kalgoorlie were Cape Narrow Gauge ar the time) , also built to Standard Gauge because WA, who insisted on a Trans Continental Railway as the cost of becoming an original State of the Commonwealth of Australia,then refused to accept either a Broad Gauge, or a Cape Narrow Gauge line as either choice would allow through working from South Australia and Victoria ! Hence the TAR became Standard Gauge. 5 / In the mid 1920s the Narrow Gauge Port Augusta to Port Pirie line was converted to Broad Gauge. As a result, Port Pirie ended up with three gauges, Narrow, Standard, & Broad, complete with a triple gauge turntable !

@maxischew514 Жыл бұрын

I'll argue that the break of gauge is still a big issue as even though the major cities are connected via standard guage it's still limited to just the state capitals and you'll still need to change trains unless you're going straight from a state capital.

@City-Moose Жыл бұрын

Absolutely agree, getting freight from regional vic to qld for example is just not viable unless both end points happen to be on the limited standard gauge parts of the rail networks in those states - which they probably aren’t

@maxischew514 Жыл бұрын

@CityMoose also funny thing you might not know, a train going from Adalade to Sydney via Melbourne can't actually access Southen cross station (main intercity train hub) so they drop off the passengers instead at some out of the way suburban train station in the far east of the city.

@railtrolley 9 ай бұрын

That will be Footscray junction railway station. West of the city, where the Standard Gauge rail from Sydney and Adelaide meet. All rail east of Melbourne is broad gauge only: Suburban network, and Bairnsdale line.

@Taitset 8 ай бұрын

@@maxischew514 They certainly can access Southern Cross, it just requires a reversal of direction as Southen Cross is a dead end. There aren't any scheduled trains that do it anyway.

@maxischew514 8 ай бұрын

@Taitset I'll still argue that still largely prohibits trains from accessing southen cross as I don't see any operators being willing to pull such a manoeuvre on a regularly scheduled train. Also thanks for replying to my comment.

@lighz2637 Жыл бұрын

Great video Keep up the good work

@davidreichert9392 7 ай бұрын

Probably the most accurate description of the state of rail transport in Canada I've ever seen

@carmattvidz4426 7 ай бұрын

A new idea is train bogies that can ride on different gauges. Technology is new but i have seen some blueprints so it can be done.

@mabamabam 9 ай бұрын

Its quite easily argued that the different gauges were an economical optimisation that sped development of QLD and WA. Getting narrow gauge to Korrelocking, and the hundred other tiny towns of WA did a lot more good than a theoretical no transfer service between Perth and Sydney.

@ausie7of9 9 ай бұрын

An American locomotive used in the thumbnail?

@ACDZ123 7 ай бұрын

WA uses American locos

@ausie7of9 7 ай бұрын

@ACDZ123 WA uses a CSX loco? No, no they definitely do not

@ACDZ123 7 ай бұрын

@ausie7of9 what locos do they use in WA? I've seen footage of the big USA locos they use .they not Chinese that's for sure

@proof036 Жыл бұрын

Came here for Cities Skylines videos and now get videos about how to improve railroads. Loving it ^_^

@jsabfan2576 17 күн бұрын

Was this video made when you were still in Sydney?

@City-Moose 17 күн бұрын

it was yes

@jsabfan2576 17 күн бұрын

@@City-Moose oh ok

@audoinxr6372 8 ай бұрын

Also note, whist you put trucking in the politics challenge. Trucks in Australia are some of the most efficient at moving volumes of freight in the world. With 1 driver and 1 truck hauling 3,4,5 or 6 trailers at once, we can become more competitive than places like USA which run 2 tiny trailers at best.

@jimsmowingofficial 5 ай бұрын

multi-trailer setups are only used in the outback where there are no railways or anything (and more importantly, not as much traffic or tight corners), I've never seen more than 2 trailers being used personally.

@monkey_gamer_001 7 ай бұрын

Glad you upgraded your microphone. This audio quality sucks!

@City-Moose 7 ай бұрын

Yeah the production quality on this vid was a bit rough… I need to remake it at some point!

@monkey_gamer_001 7 ай бұрын

@@City-Moose that would be great. I just sat down to watch it, but couldn’t bear the quality

@CaptainsChannel58 8 ай бұрын

Dude how far is rhe microphone from your mouth? Sounds like its on the other side of the room

@edwardbarnett6571 9 ай бұрын

It would be just as cheap to build a Japanese 700 km/h SC maglev in three years for $60-$100b that earns $2.000,000 every night taking containers between Sydney and Melbourne avoiding surface problems.

@francesconicoletti2547 9 ай бұрын

Given the unfinished and therefore not yet fully costed Japanese maglev costs about 216 million dollars per km ( if I did the math right) according to the figures on Wikipedia, I doubt a country that will not invest in electrification or line straightening of its current infrastructure is going to spend that amount of money on bleeding edge technology.