The ARA Rail Sustainability Leaders’ Summit was held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Wednesday with a fantastic lineup of industry and government leaders offering insights into the challenges and opportunities ahead for Australia.
The Summit was attended by more than 100 people and a common theme was the need for continued collaboration within industry and between industry and government on a shared well-planned strategy to successfully shift to lower emission intensity transport modes and low and zero emission technologies.
The Hon. Danny Pearson MP, Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for Suburban Rail Loop, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC opened the Summit.
Mr Pearson said it was really pleasing to see so many women attending – increasing female participation in the rail workforce is an important aspect to its sustainability. He spoke about the considerable uptake in public transport over the past 20 years in Melbourne and said the new Metro tunnel project will make a profound difference to the city’s transport capacity.
Mia Barnard, Transport Decarbonisation Lead, GHD, and the ARA’s General Manager – Sustainability, Joeley Pettit, gave a briefing on the ARA’s recent report, The Critical Path to Decarbonise Australia’s Rail Rollingstock – Transitioning the rail industry and its supply chain, which provides recommendations to support the availability, uptake and implementation of low and zero emission technologies to address traction emissions related to diesel-powered locomotives.
Andrew Aitken, Sustainability Principal, Inland Rail, gave a thorough update on the 1600km project connecting Brisbane to Melbourne. Two (98km Parkes to Narromine and 171km Narrabri to North Star) of the 12 projects are now completed and five are active and due for completion by 2027.
Mr Aitken showcased the solar-powered signalling system at Coolleearlee that will power a crossing loop in the area and the sustainability benefits it has brought to the project, including a saving of $10,000 a year in operational energy costs.
Solar powered site caravans have also significantly reduced the need for need for diesel generation – with an 80 per cent reduction – and resulted in less maintenance requirements, cutting the need to service generators to once every three months from once a month previously.
The Summit heard several other presentations, including from Andrew Morgan, Assistant Secretary – Net Zero Unit, Department of Infrastructure, who gave a detailed briefing on the Transport and Infrastructure Net Zero Consultation Roadmap.
Kylie Gallasch, Chief Financial Officer, ARTC, gave a thought-provoking address on the struggle of the network to cope with repeated severe weather events.
The Summit also included panel discussions on “powering our future – the energy transition”, decarbonising our rail freight network, fast tracking our journey to net-zero, resilience and innovating to deliver sustainable outcomes.
Read The critical path to decarbonise Australia’s rail rollingstock