Trucks rule Queensland roads as trains get railroaded

IF you think there are more trucks on the roads these days, you would be right. The percentage of containers shipped to and from Port of Brisbane by rail as opposed to road has slumped.

Port of Brisbane CEO Roy Cummins. Picture: Peter Wallis

HIGHWAY MADNESS

IF you think there are more trucks on the roads these days, you would be right. The percentage of containers shipped to and from Port of Brisbane by rail, as opposed to road, has declined from almost 13 per cent in 2006 to a measly 2.5 per cent last year.

In the same period, the amount of goods going through the port has surged from about 900,000 twenty equivalent unit (TEU) containers to more than 1.2 million TEUs.

That has meant a heck of a lot more trucks on the roads and it is set to get worse in the years ahead. The Port of Brisbane, headed by the capable Roy Cummins, is being forced to spend more than $100 million on upgrading the main road connection because our so-called political leaders in Canberra, in their wisdom, have not included a direct rail link to the port as part of the proposed Melbourne to Brisbane inland freight line. Freight currently has to share the rail with passenger trains.

Illustration of Roy Cummins by Brett Lethbridge.

Cummins went on the record earlier this year to say the inland rail project is “fundamentally flawed” because it stops at Acacia Ridge rather than linking with the port.

Former Thiess boss Martin Albrecht, who has a plan to link the line directly with the port via tunnels, says even rail throughout to the port in 2006 was below best practice in terms of efficiency.

DEADLY DUEL

Your diarist had first-hand experience of the growing madness on our roads made worse by the behaviour of some heavy vehicles. I was travelling in the middle lane of the Bruce Highway north of Brisbane last week when a B-double laden with heavy equipment came within centimetres of my rear bumper, tailgated me for several kilometres and then honked his horn.

As I could not safely move into the left lane I had to remain looking nervously in my rear vision mirror as the truck’s grill got closer and closer. Worse was to come when the truck suddenly overtook and cut me off, necessitating that I brake sharply to avoid being crushed by the back wheels.

NEW CHARITY TEAM

THE Queensland Community Foundation, which gives out millions of dollars each year to charities in the state, has a new board under chair Margaret McMurdo.

The former top judge will be joined by ex-Brisbane Marketing boss John Aitken, BDO partner Bernard Curran and former QUT vice chancellor Peter Coaldrake.

The board of QCF, which is Queensland’s largest philanthropic trust with $80 million, already includes former Queensland Governor Leneen Forde, Rowland managing director Helen Besly, former CJC commissioner Margaret Steinberg, QIC chief executive Damien Frawley and lawyer John de Groot.

TRIPPING UP

TRANSURBAN, which reported a tripling of first half profit on Tuesday, has promised to look into glitches related to its new “road pass” payment system. City Beat continues to get complaints about changes to the GoVia system from people using various toll ways around the city. Sunshine Coaster Jill Bell, who is aged in her 80s, had trouble with GoVia after using the Gateway Bridge last year, mistakenly going into a tunnel on one occasion and somehow ending paying more than $70 in tolls.

When she rang to pay the toll, as she has done previously, she was told she would have to open a temporary account linked to her credit card.

“I was given receipt numbers and thought everything would be okay,” Jill says. “Next I received a bill in the mail for $13 which was to be paid by January 24 which gave me just two days to sort things out. Finally after many calls I am to receive a refund of an overpaid amount of $74.79. We will see if this happens when our next credit card bill comes in.”