Is it time to look at an alternative to the Perth Freight Link?

With no funding guaranteed up to now, the Perth Freight Link may be halted for quite some time. Is this a signal for government to consider an alternative to boost the trade and improve the growing road congestion in the area?

The Australian Government recently shelved stage two of the Perth Freight Link due to huge financial implications the State had not anticipated.

The completion of the project is vital to the sale of the Fremantle Port. However, there is growing opposition from various groups pointing out many issues that will follow should the project push through. These include higher road toll charges, increased traffic congestion and heavier carbon emissions.

With the much-debated Perth Freight Link still having loose ends, various discussions show alternative solutions listed below to Perth’s growing trade woes.

Taking another look at Perth’s “southern railway”

The Age’s Alex Fletcher suggests that improving Perth’s transport network could pose more benefits and far less hassles for the country than with pursuing the Perth Freight Link.

Alex noted in his article that one of the things the State could look into is an existing “southern railway”. The railway goes from Fremantle Port to Little Creatures and treads along the coast until Coogee, before it reaches the inland.

The railway, which currently caters freight trains, could be fixed to give way to passenger trains. This aids in helping lessen vehicle congestion in the main roads while reducing carbon emission.

Laying down the reasons for Perth’s unknown southern network

Alex is convinced improving the “southern network” is a better solution compared to the Perth Freight Link because it

• traverses growing suburbs and goes east-west
• goes around to shadow the Roe highway all the way to the airport
• passes by the Kewdale Freight Terminal and the Jandakot Airport
• could possibly be the “southern half” of a ring-rail network in Perth

The author’s independent work is along the lines of Peter Newman’s, one of Australia’s leading sustainability experts, who has long proposed building a “ring-rail network” for Perth.

“Ring-rail” network: A missing circle in Perth’s societal life?

A ring-rail network is a circular network that can bring passengers and cargo alike in and out of a city’s central business district.

According to Alex, the ring-rail network is said to “bring transport, life and work options to the suburbs,” as well as achieving the following:

• Boost land value prices
• Attract housing, shopping investments
• Increase tourism, trade
• Open big opportunities for local businesses

Traveling to and from Perth today requires two different trains into and out of its central business district. The ring-rail network could offer more convenient means to passengers, while giving way for freight trains to carry trade.

Helsinki, Finland opened such a said line on 1 July 2015. The line connects the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport to the adjacent Aviapolis business district to the city’s passenger rail network. Today, it is regarded as the most valued rail link in the region. However, there are some pros and consequences to it. Watch this video to know more about the on-going discussions about it.

Other alternative considerations to the Perth Freight Link

With Perth expected to grow to a much larger city in the near future, concerned professionals like Alex have also laid out other alternative considerations to the Perth Freight Link.

Developing the Kwinana outer harbour

With the Kwinana outer harbour established, it could help not only the freight industry but Perth’s tourism, too.

“… when the Kwinana outer harbour is built, it could potentially handle the bulk of freight. Fremantle Port could then focus on the growing international cruise liner tourist trade.” Alex stated in his article published on The Age.

If chosen to be implemented, the Port of Fremantle could then focus on the international cruise liner tourist trade and attract more tourists into Fremantle and the wider Perth area.

Upgrading the Fremantle Port

In line with the proposal to develop the Kwinana outer harbour is the suggestion to upgrade the Fremantle Port.

“The port also looks like an obvious spot to build a Docklands-type residential and commercial precinct. It is in the centre of a city with all amenities nearby, including a direct train line to the Perth CBD, in a beautiful location on the river and the ocean. If industrial freight, cruise liners and residential living could be carefully combined, it would be a cracking place to live.

“High density development at Fremantle Port could provide much needed inner-city living to thousands of people, reduce urban sprawl and give Fremantle the population boost it needs,” Alex further added in his published article.

How about the Perth Freight Link? Should it be pursued?

In an interview with Senator Mathias Cormann, he stressed that Australia is a trading nation, and presented the following facts behind the need for the pursuance of the Perth Freight Link.

“This $1.6 billion infrastructure project of national significance will finally create the world class freight connections we need for our future economic success between Perth’s strategic industrial areas and Fremantle Port.

“Australia is a trading nation. Western Australia is our country’s premier trading state. With only 10% of our population, WA contributes about 47% of our nation’s merchandise exports and Fremantle Port is a key part of our trading infrastructure helping to achieve that.”

Infographic of Perth Freight Link benefit to businesses and residents

Huge value of the Fremantle Port for Australia’s import

The senator emphasized the importance of developing the Fremantle Port as:

• Huge amount of goods imported overseas are freighted out of the port by train
• Volume of imported products conveyed by train from Fremantle Port remains one of Australia’s largest

Both the export and import volumes through Fremantle Port will continue to grow for years to come. However, increased trade entails more growth, jobs, opportunities as well as more trucks and vehicles travelling to and from the port.

The Perth Freight Link: An efficient trade asset for Australia’s exports

The lawmaker explained that products manufactured in Western Australia or those that are freighted from the Wheat belt or Northern parts of the region come from various areas. The industrial areas come from different parts of the metropolitan area.

“It is just not efficient to have a railway network that goes to all these different locations to then get those products to Fremantle Port”, he said.

By providing better access from the said areas to the port, the Perth Freight Link is expected to boost West Australia’s export power, and in turn:

• Open more job opportunities
• Give the safest, most efficient and least disruptive way of transporting manufactured goods
• Provide a dedicated transport route for the increasing number of cargo-carrying trucks to get them through the metropolitan area and into the port

The senator added that getting trucks off local roads and thus improving traffic safety while moving the economy forward is one of the goals of the Perth Freight Link. Once implemented, this project will take about 5000 trucks a day off southern suburban roads and highways by 2021, including about 2,000 trucks a day off Leach Highway by 2031. This will reduce freight traffic and congestion on local arterial roads and deliver a safer driving network for both truck drivers and those living in the southern suburbs.

Perth Freight Link the budget issue – is it worth the investment?

With nearly a $1 billion-worth of tax-payer’s money at stake, not to mention the environmental and health concerns, investigating alternative and more economical and environmentally friendly solutions to the Perth Freight Link is worth the time.

Let the public have the answers to the questions lingering inside their minds rather than keep it hidden. In any case, it is still their tax that is going to be used for the implementation of this project, right?

Just our thoughts – Freight Forwarder Quote Online Australia and Freight Forwarding. Feel free to send us your opinion.

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