Potential fuel savings from East Coast mainline track straightening

Along with lower transport costs, the paper outlines some benefits of resulting mainline track straightening and rail winning a 50 per cent mode share on each corridor linking Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns and Brisbane. Further information is given in a CORE2008 paper by this writer lEast Coast mainline rail track: options for 2014r. In summary, when compared to projected high road mode shares for intercity land freight, a balanced mode share by 2014 would save 185 million of litres of diesel each year as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 500,000 tonnes per annum. It would also improve road safety with a reduction in external costs of about $325 million per year.