The paper reviews upgrading proposals to reduce Melbourne-Sydney freight train transit times. This project included computer simulation by Samrom of trains moving over the existing 940 km Dynon-Chullora track. These results show that the running time for a standard superfreighter with 2600 tonnes trailing load hauled by two 4000 HP locomotives moving over the existing track will nearly 12 hours but the same train moving over an upgraded route with three major deviations would take about 10 hours, with a fuel saving of about 10 percent. Coupled with a spur to North Canberra, the upgraded track could allow, with modest powered tilt trains, 2.5 hour Sydney-Canberra, 6.5 hour Sydney-Melbourne and 4.5 hour Canberra-Melbourne train services. This paper has drawn attention to the capacity of well designed re-alignments to reduce times and has identified some the aspects operating cost reductions. The Network Audit Report has shown that faster and more reliable freight transit times can result in significant reversal of market share loss, further enhancing the benefits of improving the main line alignments. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E209537. This paper may also be accessed by Internet users at: http://www.btre.gov.au/docs/atrf_02/program.html
Samenvatting