The Australasian Railway Association wants to see rail take a front foot approach when it comes to decarbonisation.
Without urgent intervention, the transport sector is set to become Australia’s highest source of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 – which is also the Commonwealth’s deadline for a 43 per cent reduction from 2005 levels.
The significance and scale of the decarbonisation challenge is becoming increasingly clear and will require government and industry to transform how it approaches transport planning, development and operations.
Combined with additional complexities, such as the need for increased climate resilience, changing expectations on how we build infrastructure sustainably and a continued focus on diversity and inclusion, the sector will need to transform at pace to support rail’s growth and success into the future.
The Australasian Railway Association’s (ARA) Rail Sustainability Leaders’ Summit, held in Melbourne, was a valuable opportunity to highlight and hear from industry on the innovative efforts already underway and how shared learnings might be applied to drive more sustainable outcomes in rail.
Rail will be at the heart of net zero transport networks
With rail generating significantly less carbon pollution than road travel, it is uniquely positioned to play a leading role in the transport sector’s decarbonisation journey, as part of a well-integrated transport network.
Rail only comprises about four per cent of direct transport emissions, so mode shift is a powerful lever for immediate emissions reductions.
In our communities, greater use of active and public transport can help drive down passenger emissions, while also promoting improved health and safety outcomes.
This will be particularly important in the short term, with Australia’s take-up of electric vehicles lagging other parts of the world.
That is why key projects such as the Sydney Metro are so important, injecting additional capacity into the network and bringing public transport to neighbourhoods previously not served by rail.
Projects like this – which are being developed across the country – also provide significant opportunities to reduce travel distances, avoiding transport emissions through more direct journeys. Across the nation, greater use of rail freight will also drive down emissions and promote wider safety and community benefits. While mode shift to rail has traditionally been difficult to achieve, the focus on decarbonisation highlights the need for concerted action to address the policy settings that have hampered these efforts in the past.
The ARA is advocating for an increase to 30 per cent of freight on rail in New South Wales and Victoria and has put forward comprehensive recommendations to government to create a more level playing field for our industry to compete with road.
A more productive, efficient and sustainable freight network can only be achieved through greater use of rail, particularly as the size of the freight task grows. The rail industry must also decarbonise its operations to drive further improvements.
Much of the regional passenger, freight and heavy haul network is operated using diesel-powered trains, a significant contributor to rail’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions. The ARA presented the key findings of its Critical Path to Decarbonise Australia’s Rail Rollingstock at the Summit, noting that co-ordinated action by government and industry will be required to support the transition to low and zero emissions technologies.
The industry’s transition to net zero is likely to rely on multiple technologies and fuel sources, and more clarity is needed on both supply and demand of these energy sources.
Greater certainty around access to abundant and affordable supply of low carbon liquid fuels and hydrogen is essential to support the industry’s planning and investment, and collaboration will be required to ensure charging facilities for battery electric rollingstock is appropriately located across the network.
These issues were among those highlighted in the ARA’s submission to the Transport and Infrastructure Net Zero Consultation Roadmap in July.
Improving climate resilience
Increasing extreme weather events have impacted the rail network in recent years, with about 80 per cent of the interstate corridor impacted by floods during 2022.
Improving the resilience of the network not only increases the ability to withstand these climate events, but also offers redundancy by providing alternative routes when the network is impacted, and speeds recovery after impact.
Earlier this year, the ARA welcomed a total investment of $1 billion for the ARTC in the Federal Budget to support key resilience projects across the network. But without a nationally consistent approach to resilience for rail in Australia, more focus is needed to ensure Australia’s rail networks can withstand climate emergencies in the future.
The ARA is also working with members to develop nationally consistent approaches to resilience in rail to support better information sharing and collaboration on this key issue.
building rail infrastructure smarter
The Summit heard about new guidance on measuring embodied emissions released by Infrastructure NSW earlier this year, which will inform the basis of a nationally consistent measurement approach. Building infrastructure smarter to reduce embodied emissions will require new approaches to planning and procurement. Industry can offer solutions that use less materials, or more sustainable materials, to reduce the emissions profile of infrastructure projects.
But that will require a focus on outcomes, rather than specifications, in procurement processes, as well as streamlined approval processes for new and innovative materials.
While emissions reduction is an obvious focus, greater use of circular products can also divert materials from landfill, increasing their lifespan.
Ecologiq shared a range of measures that have been adopted in rail projects in Victoria to increase the use of recycled and remanufactured products and improve circularity.
The growing focus on the circular economy is likely to see more innovation in this space, as rail projects look to deliver wider sustainability benefits.
a shared commitment
The decisions governments and industry make today will have a long-lasting impact for generations to come.
The ARA is working with industry and government to support collaboration and a shared commitment to measures to create a sustainable, equitable and efficient transport system under net zero conditions.
Increasing the use of public transport and enabling more freight on rail, as well as leveraging new technologies to reduce congestion and carbon emissions, is the starting point for this transition.
Rail is the most environmentally friendly form of mass transport on the planet, and it will play a critical role in moving us towards a more sustainable future and achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
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