Tasmania, once considered an Australian leader in public transport, now ranks among the worst in the country, according to a report published earlier this year.
The 29-page A Better Deal: Fixing Tasmania’s Broken Public Transport System report by progressive think-tank McKell Institute described it as having patronage in “terminal decline” with “no meaningful investment” in decades, and found Tasmania’s existing bus network failed to adequately service areas of greatest need.
The report recommended the state government “prioritise active investment” in transport infrastructure, such as “additional bus lanes, ‘bus rapid transit’ and/or ‘light rail'”.
So what did public transport once look like in Tasmania, and which solutions are being considered?
Tasmania’s transport past
Tasmania has a rich rail history stretching back to 1871, when its first railway opened between Launceston and Deloraine.
Having been involved with trains for nearly 60 years, Tony Coen is a former employee of Tasmanian Government Railways (TGR), the operators behind the fleet of express passenger trains known as the Tasman Limited.
These trains connected various towns between Wynyard, Launceston, and Hobart and marked a historic feat, with Tasmania the first state in Australia to use diesel-powered trains on a mainline railway.
Mr Coen said that the Tasman Limited “was one of the most luxurious trains in Australia” when it came onto the scene.
“The train was the best way to go. You could relax, you could get lunch onboard, you could have a drink.”
The Tasman Limited set itself apart from the other commuter trains that operated around the state, as it had its own hosts and wait staff.
The air-conditioned fleet was also equipped with rest rooms, newspapers and a dining car that served hot and cold meals and even cigarettes.
Mr Coen said the Tasman Limited was “very popular”.
But, due to financial struggles, TGR’s ownership of the service and every Tasmanian mainline railway was transferred in 1975 to Australian National Railways (ANR), a federal government agency.
The Tasman Limited ceased operating three years later due to the growing popularity of cars.
It had the honour of being the last regularly scheduled passenger train to run in Tasmania.
Trams, trolley buses come and go
But trains were not the only public transport in Tasmania to be discarded.
In 1893, Hobart implemented the first fully electric tram network in the southern hemisphere and became the first city in the world to operate an extensive fleet of double-decker trams.
Single-storey trams were eventually added in 1906.
Launceston followed suit and introduced single-storey trams in 1911, with trolley buses used alongside trams in Hobart from 1935 and in Launceston from 1951.
But a fatal accident in 1960 led to the ultimate demise of Hobart’s trams, while Launceston had already axed its service eight years prior.
Trolley buses completely replaced trams in both cities, as they were easier to navigate around Tasmania’s steep and bendy terrain.
In 1968, they were phased out in both major cities in favour of the free-moving buses we have come to use today.
Hobart’s light rail hopes derailed?
Hobart’s old rail corridor has been earmarked for redevelopment into a rapid bus transit (RBT) corridor by the Tasmanian government.
RBT involves a roadway exclusively for buses, known as a busway, allowing for faster travel times and higher passenger capacity than regular buses.
The government wants to implement RBT in Hobart to help move patrons to the proposed 23,000-seat stadium at Macquarie Point, meaning Hobart’s last line of railway tracks will have to be removed.
Not everyone is on board with that plan.
Since 2009, the Hobart Northern Suburbs Rail Action Group (HNSRAG) has been campaigning for a light rail system to be built along the old rail corridor.
Light rail trains are similar to their traditional heavy rail counterparts except their wheels are typically smaller, although they can share the same tracks by switching to wider wheels.
HNSRAG’s light rail proposal includes a single-line railway with 13 stops linking Hobart’s CBD to the northern suburbs, going as far out as Bridgewater.
It would use passing loops to allow for arriving and departing services to safely operate simultaneously.
Rail ‘more energy efficient than a bus’, advocate says
HNSRAG president Toby Rowallan said “the benefits of rail are significant”.
“Rail has a far higher capacity than buses”, Mr Rowallan said, as well as “superior access for wheelchairs, people with poor mobility and parents with prams”.
“Rail is seven times more energy efficient than a bus.”
“Rail is what attracts people to public transport. Buses do not.”
When asked why RBT has been chosen over light rail, Minister for Transport Eric Abetz identified cost as the primary reason.
“Does everybody like the idea of light rail, I think so. The question then is do they like the potential cost to the taxpayer? Not so much.
“As a government, we haven’t ruled light rail out but we are very conscious of how expensive it is.”
A condition report commissioned by the state government identified the existing railway as in poor condition, with upgrades to its rails and infrastructure such as level crossings and signal lights needed.
Several reports commissioned by the Tasmanian government have examined the potential costs of light rail and RBT along Hobart’s rail corridor.
A 2011 report by ACIL Tasman, under Labor, found it would cost around $70 million for light rail and $115 million for RBT.
A 2020 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, under a Liberal government, found that it would cost around $685 million for light rail and $512 million for RBT.
A separate report from 2020 estimates operational costs at $8.3 million a year for light rail, and $6.6 million for rapid buses.
These prices are expected to have increased.
Calls to keep current Bridgewater Bridge
If plans for a busway go ahead, Hobart’s last remaining railway track won’t be the only local infrastructure casualty.
The current heritage-listed Bridgewater Bridge, built in 1946, has also been earmarked for removal once construction is completed on the new bridge.
Mr Coen warned the current bridge needed to be protected, as the new bridge’s design was too steep to allow rail access.
“If we want to have a commuter [rail] service, it has to go beyond Bridgewater, and we can’t do it without that [old] bridge,” he said.
“We’re going to have to lobby hard to make sure it stays there. As that is the only way a railway line can get across the Derwent River.”
The government has said: “Because of the poor condition and growing cost of maintaining the [existing] bridge, it will be removed at the end of the project.
“Many people have a strong connection to the bridge, and we are working with the community to look at how we can recognise and promote the heritage values of the crossing and the previous four bridges.
“The causeway won’t be removed.”
The McKell Institute recommended the Tasmanian government “proceed with some additional form of non-bus public transport”, as the current RBT proposal is “undesirable” and would “simply add to existing congestion”.
Mr Abetz said that, “it stands to reason that the metro service will be cannibalised to a certain extent, and it appears that a ferry service may be a more beneficial mode of public transport to try to get cars off the road”.
ABC News
The Tasman Limited was a passenger train operated by Tasmanian Government Railways (TGR) on the Main and Western lines between Hobart, Launceston and Wynyard from April 1954 to July 1978.
The service has the distinction of being the last regularly scheduled passenger train in Tasmania.
With the introduction of the X Class diesel locomotives in 1950, Tasmania became the first state in Australia to operate diesel locomotives on a mainline rail network. Their delivery heralded the modernisation of the system by the Tasmanian Transport Commission, operator of the TGR. Other initiatives were the introduction of diesel-mechanical shunting locomotives (from 1948) and the redevelopment of Hobart’s railway station in 1953. The decision of the TGR to introduce a new intrastate passenger service however, was courageous. The Philips Report of 1953 had recommended the withdrawal of all country passenger services due to steadily decreasing patronage as more people turned to the private motor car as their primary means of travel.
In 1949/50 the TGR took delivery of six 153hp articulated DP class railcars built by Commonwealth Engineering in Clyde, New South Wales.[2] With seating for 58 passengers, they were initially rostered on the Hobart – Launceston Evening Service. In September 1950, they were used on a new limited-stops morning service between the two cities, working in pairs (DP + DP). Three railcars (DP27, DP28, DP29) were upgraded with carpeting, curtains and hot meal facilities.
The journey was extended through to the North West Coast in April 1953 when the Evening Service was converted to a locomotive-hauled train, thus making all articulated railcars available for the morning service. It operated three days per week (South-bound: Monday, Wednesday, Friday; and Northbound: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday). On 5 April 1954, the TGR decided to maximise the train’s popularity by giving it a name (Tasman Limited) and promotion of the service was increased. The TGR described the train as “cheapest & best in travel comfort.”
The railcars carried a destination name-board on their front sides, depending on the direction of travel:
Hobart to Launceston was The Tamar
Launceston to Wynyard was Table Cape
Wynyard to Launceston was The Launcestonian
Launceston to Hobart was The Derwent.
The north-bound Tasman Limited (‘Tamar’: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) departed Hobart at 08:36, and arrived in Launceston at 13:08, stopping for passengers only at Derwent Park Junction and Western Junction. The east-bound train (‘Launcestonian’: Monday, Wednesday, Friday) departed Wynyard at 08:30 and arrived in Launceston at 13:19. The south-bound service (‘The Derwent’: Monday, Wednesday, Friday) departed Launceston at 12:30 and arrived in the capital at 17:03. The west-bound service (‘Table Cape’: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) departed Launceston at 12:22 and terminated at Wynyard at 17:10. Both trains on each day crossed at Western Junction, and passengers could change trains for their journey towards either Wynyard or Hobart. A meal service and light refreshments were available only on the Main Line leg between Hobart and Launceston.
On 6 December 1954, the TGR expanded the frequency to a daily service (Monday to Saturday), except Sunday. The route operation was changed slightly and ‘The Tamar’ section was dropped. Hobart to Wynyard became one long section named ‘Table Cape’, whilst the ‘Launcestonian’ and ‘The Derwent’ sections remained unchanged. The train crossing point at Western Junction remained in place.
Would a long distance passenger service be a better first service than a local Hobart system?
Reading this Tasmania was a ground breaking state of passenger rail and look now how they have fallen. There is a cancer in Australia around rail it has become a second cousin to road which explains why some much of Australia emissions are road transport related.