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Freight carried over the interstate rail network in Victoria, South Australia and into Western Australia reached a new high during May and continues to rise at a rate outstripping national economic growth.
Freight traffic moved during May over that part of the interstate rail network controlled by Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) was 8.3% higher than for the comparable period last year and growth for the year to date is a healthy 9.5%.
During May 2002, 2.6 billion gross tonne kilometres (GTK) were carried over the ARTC network, up from 2.4 billion in April and beating the previous record monthly figure of 2.57 billion GTK in November 2001.
ARTC Managing Director, David Marchant said, “ARTC and Commonwealth Government investment over the last three years has been directed at improving transit times and increasing the reliability and capacity of the ARTC network.” “ARTC has provided the framework to allow train operators to run longer, heavier and faster trains and the ability to deliver more efficient and cost effective rail freight services to their clients.”
David Marchant continued, “These latest figures clearly demonstrate that our strategies for the interstate network are assisting the rail industry in lifting overall performance.”
“The figures also indicate that the economy continues to display healthy growth and that rail is responding to the challenge of improving its market share, thereby creating safer roads and providing significant environmental benefits.”