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Writer's pictureRoss Lowrey

Include freight services on high speed rail

At the recent ARA High Speed Rail conference, the speaker from Deutsche Bahn said Germany ‘s integrated system has higher capacity utilisation by sharing it between high speed passenger and freight trains.



Carrying freight on high speed rail lines makes sense in Australia.  Unless a new type of fast freight train is introduced with faster turnaround in terminals and faster speeds, rail will fail to gain market share from trucks for the lucrative interstate merchandise freight market.  Much of this market, especially the most time-sensitive “next day delivery” market, currently travels overnight between Sydney and Melbourne or Sydney and Brisbane mostly by truck.


Therefore, fast freight should be able to, and indeed will need to, utilise both existing tracks and parts of the new high speed lines.  Fast freights will have similar speeds to overnight sleeper trains, and can therefore share tracks with them efficiently, with 8-10 hour transit times between Sydney and Melbourne possible using high speed lines for at least parts of the journey.


Garry’s paper Freight and High Speed Rail answered the question of whether freight can be carried on the high-speed rail line between Sydney and Melbourne.  It proves the feasibility of using the high-speed line to operate fast freight trains, mostly running at night, together with a range of passenger services designed to meet expected future passenger demand.

It showed that fast freight trains could be introduced, especially at night when there are few passenger trains operating.  Some track sharing on high-speed lines during daylight hours is also possible.  Rail travel times between terminals can be cut from the current 13-15 hours to around 9 hours.


It is predicted that adding 12-15 new fast freight trains in each direction per day, along with the development of modern logistics centres like Sydney’s Moorebank terminal, would enable the high-speed line to shift at least 50% of the future general merchandise freight between Sydney and Melbourne onto rail.  The high-speed line could also carry 40% of future inter-city air passenger traffic, as well as regional and commuter movement in the Sydney-Melbourne corridor.


The combined effect would produce major economic, social and environmental benefits for Australia.


However there are challenges, and these need to be recognised.

  • Carrying freight on high speed lines means gradients will have to be reduced, which means more tunnels and viaducts may be needed in hilly country.  Passing loops will also need to be incorporated so freight trains can layover while passenger services zip by.

  • We propose that only “light” single stack container (21 tonne max axle loads) and appropriately designed piggyback trains (carrying trucks) using rollingstock such as Modalohr or CargoBeamer be allowed on any new high speed tracks. This excludes coal trains, grain trains, mineral trains, steel train, double stack container trains etc., which will continue to use the existing low-speed lines.

  • And there would be time restrictions on the sharing of tracks, which would depend on location and time of day. In addition the safety requirements for high speed passenger services will necessitate higher maintenance standards for both the track and rollingstock, especially the freight rollingstock.


But overall, it is good news for Australia for three reasons:

  • First, the high-speed line will be highly utilised with up to 400 trains a day using part or all of the line. The high utilisation of the high-speed line will increase its revenue to more quickly pay back the investment in it.

  • Second, it will create a secondary economic lever for the high-speed line. High-speed rail will provide a fast and reliable ‘conveyor belt’, especially if it links new terminals with automated handling facilities. It will make the distribution of goods quicker, more reliable and cheaper.

  • Finally, shifting a significant part of future freight task from trucks to rail will also generate significant environmental, safety and other benefits, and make our transport systems more sustainable.

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