The ARA has made a submission to the Australian Government’s Transport Productivity Roundtable, highlighting the critical role of rail freight in boosting national productivity and strengthening supply chains.
Rail freight is a cornerstone of Australia’s transport network, carrying 56 per cent of the nation’s freight task and contributing almost $11 billion annually to the economy. It produces 16 times less carbon pollution per tonne kilometre than road freight and is up to nine times safer, yet persistent barriers are limiting rail’s ability to realise its full potential.
In its submission, the ARA identified five key challenges facing rail freight:
- Fragmented and inefficient infrastructure.
- Dominance and flexibility of road freight.
- Interfaces and connectivity.
- Reliability and timeliness.
- Policy and regulatory bias for road.
To address these challenges and unlock productivity gains, the ARA’s submission recommended four priority actions for government:
- Rail freight policy and regulatory reform – including implementing the Rail Safety National Law review, establishing a corridors taskforce and establishing a single national train-control platform.
- National rail network investment – delivering a long-term infrastructure investment plan to improve resilience, reliability and interoperability.
- Enabling practical mode shift – making better use of existing funding programs to support lower-emissions rail fleets and help customers transition freight onto rail.
- Achieving modal competitive neutrality – ensuring road and rail pay their fair share of social costs through reforms such as distance-based road-user charges and reviewing track access pricing.
The ARA continues to call for a nationally coordinated, productivity-driven transformation of Australia’s rail freight network. These measures would not only lift productivity, but also enhance safety, lower emissions, strengthen supply chains, and reduce costs for Australian businesses and households.
The submission was developed in close consultation with ARA members and builds on the ARA’s ongoing engagement with government to advance national freight and supply chain reforms.
Download submission