Double stacking containers on trucks

In 2023 Qube Logistics along with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) and the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) tested something new at the Port of Brisbane in Australia – a double stack container truck, of 8TEU (twenty-foot equivalent) capacity.

Qube photo

The pair of specially designed trailers were designed by The Drake Group.

And Prime Mover Magazine writing about the trial.

Qube pioneers double stacked container vehicle
June 8, 2023

A double stacked container vehicle has been trialled for the first time on port and public roads in Australia.

The Super B-double Double Stacked vehicle was operated by Qube as part of a trial conducted under stringent safety and operational conditions at the Port of Brisbane.

Both the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) and the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) oversaw the trial which involved the vehicle carrying eight empty twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) containers on a defined route within Qube’s port facilities and limited public port roads.

The trial was conducted under a temporary permit from the NHVR and temporary consent granted by PBPL as the Port’s road manager.

The Super B was pulled by a Scania prime mover.

Nicknamed ‘the London Project’ in homage to London’s iconic double decker buses, the high productivity vehicles have the potential to increase operational efficiencies, given their ability to move 12 TEUs at a time.

Qube also expects the double stacked triple trailing units produced by O’Phee Trailers and the Drake Group, will lower emissions by eliminating truck movements.

PBPL CEO, Neil Stephens, congratulated all who were involved on the successful trial which followed a significant period of design, engineering and consultation by Qube with its stakeholders, including PBPL.

“This is a fantastic outcome for Qube and all parties involved today. It’s also a clear demonstration of the collaboration and innovation being achieved by our customers and partners here at the Port that’s enhancing productivity and efficiency in their operations,” said Stephens.

“As Port Manager, one of our key priorities is investing in infrastructure to support supply chain efficiency,” he said.

“We were pleased to deliver road improvement works and upgrade the access/egress to a number of facilities to support this new vehicle and Qube’s innovation.”

Under its current permit and consent conditions, the new double stacked vehicle will transport empty containers on a defined route within Qube’s facility and limited public port roads, under stringent safety and operational conditions.

Why not three trailers?

In December 2023 an even longer double stack truck was tested – with a third trailer being added.

Qube photo

Taking capacity to 12 TEU.

Prime Mover Magazine reporting on the trial.

Qube trials Super B-triple double-stack in Brisbane
December 15, 2023

Port cartage and logistics specialist, Qube, has successfully completed the first on-road trial of a Super B-triple double-stack combination at the Port of Brisbane.

Approved under Performance-Based Standards, the combination will move empty containers to vessels from nearby facilities.

Earlier this year the double-stack trial took place as part of Project London Stage 1 at the Port – the first time a Super B double-stacked container vehicle had run on port roads in Australia.

Yesterday was the first trial for Stage 2, and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator and ARRB – Australian Road Research Board were at the trial, which was conducted under stringent safety and operational conditions.

The trial, as with all others, was conducted on highly controlled port roads.

Stacked to an Australian-first height of over seven metres, this PBS innovation is anticipated by Qube to bring a significant boost to productivity when transporting empty containers – saving both money and time.

The product of a collaboration between O’Phee Trailers and The Drake Group with National Heavy Vehicle Regulator and the Port of Brisbane, these high-productivity vehicles have the potential to increase operational efficiencies, given their ability to move 12 x 20ft containers at a time.

“As Port Manager, it’s fantastic to be working with our customers to continually improve productivity, through innovative and sustainably focused transport delivery,” said the Port of Brisbane in an online statement.

Or a road train?

How about a 300-metre long double stacked road train, weighing 750 tonnes?

Volvo photo

Volvo Trucks put together such a consist back in 2016 as a publicity stunt to demonstrate the capabilities of their trucks.

Volvo FH16 and I-Shift with crawler gears pull 750 tonnes

In a great power test, a Volvo FH16 featuring the I-Shift with crawler gears manages to haul a 300-metre long container train, weighing 750 tonnes, from standstill.

The purpose of the record-breaking haul is to demonstrate the capabilities of the I-Shift transmission with crawler gears. It offers starting traction that is unlike anything else on the market for series-produced trucks. The crawler ratios make it possible to haul really heavy loads, start off in difficult terrain, and drive at speeds as low as 0.5 km/h. Specially built trucks are normally used for exceptionally heavy loads, but during a great power test we are using a Volvo FH16 that has come virtually straight from the factory.

In the port of Gothenburg, on a winterday beginning of 2016, a reach stacker places the last shipping container on a road train that stretches over 300 metres long. The 40 containers are loaded with spare parts from Volvo, which will be shipped to various destinations around the world. But right now, they are being used in an attempt at a world record – a Volvo FH16 750 truck will try to pull the 750-tonne load. Hopefully it will be possible thanks to the I-Shift with crawler gears. It can start from standstill with 325 tonnes, but can it start with 750 tonnes? “I’ve been counting on this. It should … it should be possible,” says Niklas Öberg, one of the engineers who helped develop the new gearbox.

For a single truck to tow 750 tonnes, the conditions have to be perfect. The whole rig must be meticulously loaded in order not to collapse, all towing couplings must be checked and the air pressure in all 204 tyres must be continuously adjusted. In addition, the ground should be dry, as moisture can make the truck slip. The onsite crew discuss the weather. Just days earlier there was persistent wind and rain, but right now it looks as if it will actually be possible.

The crew signal to the cab that they should make an attempt. The engine purrs, Magnus engages the minimum crawler gear and revs up the engine. But something goes wrong. The truck roars and the front of the cab starts to rise into the air. “Stop! Stop!” screams Niklas Öberg, waving his arms. Magnus releases the gas and the cab front hits the ground.

The team is now looking at the trailers and pressurising the air system to release the brakes on each trailer for another attempt. Magnus leans back and pushes down on the accelerator. The engine rumbles and at first nothing happens. Then it begins: A super-slow forward motion. Slowly but steadily, the 300-metre, 750-tonne container train crawls forward. The truck approaches the finishing line – 100 metres from the starting point – and the crowd cheer as it passes.

I’ve seen trains smaller than this record breaking truck!

Further reading

• Double-stack rail transport at Wikipedia
• O-Phee London Trailer | A World First at Drake Group

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This new level crossing is located on ‘Intermodal Way‘ – a new public road connecting Dock Link Road and Mullaly Close, replacing Coode Road between Dock Link Road and Phillipps Road.

And the railway track crossing Intermodal Way leads into the new Coode Road Rail Terminal.

The new terminal is part of the ‘Port Rail Transformation Project‘ which will enable port shuttle trains to run to Altona, Somerton and Lyndhurst.

With new rail infrastructure including:

• A new Coode Road rail terminal interfacing with the Swanson Dock East International Container Terminal. The rail terminal will include two new rail sidings each that can handle 600 metre long trains.
• A new road to facilitate the uninterrupted movement of containers. The new road will provide a continued East/West connection within the Swanson Dock Precinct without trucks needing to exit to Footscray Road replacing the section of Coode Road which will be closed for the construction of the above rail terminal.
• Modifications to the Swanson precinct common user sidings to accommodate 600 metre long trains.
• A new track linking the Swanson and Appleton lead tracks to allow additional flexibility for trains to move within the port precinct.

Funding for the project was made available way back in the 2014-15 State Budget as the ‘Metropolitan Intermodal System’, but work on the two track dual gauge intermodal terminal didn’t start until 2021.

Works on the new rail terminal are still ongoing, with flashing lights and boom barriers yet to be installed at the new level crossing.

So will port shuttle trains be running soon? The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office has been tracking the delays.

The shuttle network is not proceeding according to its original timetable. Service start dates across the 3 sites are delayed by 17.6 months on average, although construction at Altona is nearly complete.

The shuttle network program has not achieved the original contract milestones and the department has amended and extended contract dates for Altona 6 times and Somerton 14 times.

The department’s recent advice to government confirms that the shuttle network is unlikely to deliver the expected volume of metropolitan container freight by rail unless the government approves further interventions and investments.

And is worried about the viability of services.

• Pricing, access and operating arrangements at the new on-dock rail terminal at the port are uncertain because the future operator has not yet published its rates.
• Trucks are estimated to have a significant competitive advantage over rail per metropolitan container, based on current pricing and port-precinct operating models.
• The new on-dock terminal, in its initial operating phase, will not operate on weekends and only during the daylight hours of 6 am to 6 pm. This is unlikely to align with available rail paths to the port, especially from Dandenong South, as well as the shuttle network operators’ operational needs.
• No freight train paths for Somerton or Dandenong South can be allocated until a rail operator is appointed for these sites. This will need to happen closer to when they are ready to start services.

Fingers crossed the new services are more successful than previous port shuttle train attempts.

Footnote: Melbourne’s previous newest level crossing?

Back in 2017 I looked at when did Melbourne stop building new level crossings – and the previous newest crossing was around the corner at Dock Link Road, opened in the 1990s as part of an upgrade to the Melbourne Freight Terminal.

But in April 2023 the Level Crossing Removal Authority added an even newer pedestrian level crossing – outside Diamond Creek College on the Hurstbridge line, as part of the Hurstbridge Line Duplication project.

Footnote: dual gauge track and common rail transfers

Sidings at the Port of Melbourne are laid with three-rail ‘dual gauge’ track so that both broad and standard gauge trains can access the freight terminals.

But the new triangle connection between the Appleton Dock and Swanston Dock sidings introduces a new problem – the ‘common’ rail shared between the broad and standard trains needs to switch sides.

So the solution is a complicated device called a ‘common rail transfer’ switch, which moves the wheels of standard gauge trains from one side of the track to the other.

Australia’s mess of rail gauges is the gift that keeps on giving!

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In the old days

Timber tramways would transport freshly cut logs to sawmills deep in the forest.

Museums Victoria image MM 5821

With the sawn timber then being loaded onto main line trains for transport to the construction industry.

Photo by Weston Langford

But by World War II the timber tramways were gone: replaced by road transport, and supplying a network of town based sawmills established following the 1939 Black Friday bushfires.

Enter woodchips

In the 1960s the timber industry switched from sawlogs to clearfell logging for export woodchips.

Initially this traffic was by road, but in 1999 newly privatised freight operator Freight Australia started to move this traffic to rail.

Logs were loaded onto flat wagons at Bairnsdale and Wodonga.

Hauled by train to Geelong.

Where they were unloaded at the Midway woodchip plant and sent through the chipper.

To be loaded by conveyor into ships.

Bound for Japanese paper mills.

These log trains continued running until 2009, when the Black Saturday bushfires burnt out the source of the logs.

And now containers

In the 2000s another way of moving timber by rail emerged – sawlogs stuffed inside standard ISO containers, ready to be exported by sea.

Logs are delivered to the rail terminal by truck and then stockpiled.

The loader grabs a claw full of logs, and loads them into a cradle.

Once the cradle is full, it is placed in front of an empty 40 foot container.

A specially fitted loader then pushes the logs into the container.

Them the forklift takes the empty log cradle away for reloading.

And so the process repeats.

Current containerised log rail services include:

• Bathurst to Port Botany, NSW: 175,000 tonnes/year by Pacific National
• Goulburn to Port Botany, NSW: 100,000 tonnes/year by Crawford Freightlines
• Werris Creek to Port Botany, NSW: 230,000 tonnes/year by Crawford Freightlines
• Bordertown and Flinders Adelaide Container Terminal, SA: Bowmans Rail

Footnote: log wagons

Moving logs by container on standard flat wagons is a lot more flexible than constructing dedicated log wagons, which Freight Australia discovered when trying to expand their fleet.

Freight Australia found a new emerging market in transporting plantation logs and to capitalise, the Sale to Bairnsdale line had to be reopened. For the log business to expand, wagons that could carry logs were in urgent demand.

In order to satisfy this demand, older disused container flats, open wagons and louvre vans were all identified as having the potential to be converted into log wagons by having their sides and canopies removed. Further checks were undertaken to determine the suitability of each wagon to support the load where the stanchion cradles were to be attached.

The container flats and the open wagons proved straight forward, however, the VLEX louvre van design had to be analysed as its canopy needed to be fully removed. The analysis revealed, as with many of the original PTC wagons, that the center sill on the vans actually took 95+ % of the load.

The cradle frames for the logs were then designed so that they could be huck bolted onto the various wagon classes, this allowed for easy replacement if damaged and the ability to convert these wagons back to container flats if the need arose.

Flexibility and the ability to convert wagons readily for any commodity was a bonus for these wagons however, unlike previous log wagons built, these wagons were not fitted with bulkheads. To fit bulkheads to these wagons would mean excessive extra costs, shorten their effective carrying load length and reduce their flexibility. To enable these wagons to be accredited for operation in Victoria, Freight Australia had to demonstrate the safe securing of the logs namely in the longitudinal direction without bulkheads being fitted.

The ROA Manual of Engineering Standards and Practices requires an overall load sustaining minimum capacity in the longitudinal direction equal to the gravity force of the load multiplied by 4. i.e. survive a 4G de-acceleration. Freight Australia demonstrated the safety of these wagons, loaded with logs and why bulkheads were not required by: –

• Carrying out impact trials of Log wagons to determine the load movements at speeds between 8kph to 15kph. These dramatic test could not replicate 4G as to do so would have meant destroying a wagon however, it did demonstrate the controlled way the load shifted. The mass of the logs tied down and jammed between the stanchions and the friction between the logs meant the log movements were contained within the outline diagram and none of the logs broke away from their total mass;

• Modelling the forces and the loads required to move the loaded logs between the stanchions and calculating the sufficiency of the log restraining systems;

• Reviewing other Log Transporters and their practices. This included the American Railroads, who are governed by the AAR guidelines, and more importantly our competitors in the road industry who follow the Department of Transport Guidelines. Both operations aren’t required to operate their vehicles with bulkheads.

Further reading

• Shipping and handling costs for Australia’s wood product exports

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Twice a day a train departs the Melbourne Freight Terminal at South Dynon.

The train skirts the edge of Southern Cross Station.

Then rolls through the river end of Flinders Street Station.

Then traverses the tracks at Richmond Junction.

Heads towards Caulfield.

Over the rollercoaster grades at Ormond, McKinnon and Bentleigh.

Eventually making it south to Frankston.

Then heads along the single track Stony Point line.

Turning off the main line at Long Island Junction.

To arrive at the BlueScope Steel plant beside Westernport Bay in Hastings.

Photo via Southern Peninsula News

Some history

The steel mill at Hastings was opened by Lysaght in 1972. Lysaght’s was acquired by BHP in 1979, demerged as BHP Steel in 2002, and then renamed BlueScope Steel in 2003.

The Victorian Government encouraged the development of the plant with the passing of the Western Port (Steel Works) Act 1970 – specific provisions relating to rail were:

The Premier on behalf of the State covenants that the State will ensure that there shall be provided –

• to the boundary of the Plant Site a suitable rail link by which rail facilities constructed by the Company at its cost within its boundaries may be connected to the Victorian Railways network;
• adequate rail motive power and rolling stock and suitable rail services to ensure the satisfactory movement of materials products and equipment to and from the Plant;
• rail transportation services for the conveyance of employees of the Company or its site contractors to and from the Plant

under such conditions as are agreed between the Victorian Railways Commissioners and the Company.

The 6.2 km long branch line from the Stony Point line opened in 1969, with 87,730 tons of traffic being moved over the new connection in 1972/1973. The efficiency of these trains was improved following the introduction of dedicated block trains, with 50,000 tonnes of coiled steel transported from Hastings during 1981/82.

Weston Langford photo #115670

The Hastings Port industrial area land use plan detailed the operation of the mill during the 1990s:

Steel slab is brought in by rail and ship, primarily from Port Kembla, for processing into a range of finished-steel products for the local, national and international markets. Products are sent by truck to the local market, by rail to interstate markets in South Australia and Western Australia, and by ship to international markets. Presently BHP sends 300 000 tonnes of steel a year by rail from Whyalla and Port Kembla to Westernport, but has an agreement which would permit this tonnage to be increased to 800,000 tonnes.

BHP is constantly reviewing and upgrading its operations to increase efficiency and become more export-orientated. A new cold-strip galvanised steel production line has recently been commissioned at a cost of some $138 million. Presently BHP steelworks employs 1500 persons and produces approximately 1.2 million tonnes of steel a year from a plant that has a capacity to produce 2.6 million tonnes. The new galvanised steel line increased production capacity by some 800 000 tonnes without requiring any large increase in staff numbers.

Today the steel trains are operated by Pacific National following the sale of the National Rail Corporation in 2002, and form the sole freight link to the mill following the 2012 retirement of the ‘Iron Monarch’ that moved slab steel by sea between Port Kembla and Hastings.

Facts and figures

Today each steel train is made up of 40 wagons and is hauled by a pair two 2,830 kW (3,800 hp) G class diesel locomotives, with approximately 600,000 tonnes of steel product per annum moved by rail to Hastings.

Made train is made up of a mix of wagons with pairs of ‘jumbo’ coils of steel.

And ‘butterbox’ containers of coil steel.

The average wagon has a tare mass of around 20 tonnes (based on a RKLX class wagon) and with a loaded gross mass of 74 to 79 tonnes – or 30 tonnes for a single container!

For the proposes of comparison, the permitted gross vehicle mass of a standard six-axle semi-trailer in Victoria is 42.5 tonnes – or a single container per truck. With 40 containers and 40 steel coils per train, and two trains per day each way, a total of 320 truck movements are required to move the same load.

Rail gauge troubles

Australia’s rail gauge muddle has complicated the operation of trains to Hastings – steel loaded on broad gauge trains from Hastings needs to be transferred onto standard gauge trains to head interstate.

Initially this occurred at Albury and Adelaide, until the gauge conversion of the Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor by the National Rail Corporation in 1995. This saw the opening of the Melbourne Steel Terminal in West Melbourne, where the steel would be transhipped between local broad gauge trains and interstate standard gauge trains.

This terminal closed in 2015 to make room for the ‘E’ Gate development, with transhipping of steel now occurring at the nearby Melbourne Freight Terminal.

The provision of standard gauge access to Hastings has been examined multiple times, via the Frankston or Cranbourne lines, but no progress has been made towards such a connection.

And elsewhere in Australia

Steel trains to Hastings form a small part of the work that Pacific National does for BlueScope Steel and Arrium across Australia. In 2003 the deal was valued at $400 million over four years, and was followed in 2006 by a $1 billion seven year contract, which was extended for another seven years from 2015.

A total of 2.3 million tonnes of steel moved by rail in 2013:

• 1.38 Million is Port Kembla and Westernport outbound
• 0.96 Million is transported on behalf of Onesteel

The reason for these massive numbers – each piece of steels moves an average of 3.2 times through manufacturing plants, rail terminals, distribution centres and customer sites.

To cater for this traffic, a specialised fleet of wagons is used:

• Steel Coil – 2.5-28t (Horizontal and Vertical), 285 ‘butter box’ wagons
• Steel Plate In & Out of Gauge – 67 flat wagons, 55 tilt wagons
• Structural Beams – Shared fleet, typical 5-15 wagon per week
• Scrap – 46 scrap box’s, 23 container wagons
• Raw Materials – 3 locomotive Sets, 100 wagons

Which results in varied trains.

Footnote

Think this look familiar? It’s an expanded version of my 2018 post Rail replacement trucks for the Frankston line.

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Headed down the line

Six days a week, a train leaves the paper mill at Maryvale.

It heads along a single track siding to the mainline.

Where it meets the main Gippsland railway.

Having to share the track with V/Line services.

It then heads for Melbourne, passing under some former level crossings.

And over others.

It heads through Flinders Street Station.

Following the banks of the Yarra River.

Until it reaches the Qube Logistics terminal at the Port of Melbourne.

The containers are stripped from the wagons, and another batch loaded.

Then the train heads back east, ready to do the same thing again tomorrow.

Some history

The Maryvale paper mill was established by Australian Paper Manufacturers (APM) in 1937, following a government agreement that gave the company favourable access to forests, exploiting lower-quality timber left after sawlogs had been felled.

The site was chosen due to easy access to water from the Latrobe River and electricity from the Yallourn power station, with full production commencing in 1940.

The railway siding to the paper mill opened in 1937, but the operation was antiquated – APM used their own shunting tractor to deliver wagons in small groups to an exchange siding at Morwell, where it would be picked up by mainline freight trains for the journey to Melbourne.

All of this changed in 1996, when through trains between Melbourne and the paper mill commenced. Brian Carroll explains, in Toll: an illustrated history.

For some time before Toll acquired specialist paper transport company Sibcot, Mery Hunter had been talking to Australian Paper about the benefits of moving paper by train from its Maryvale Mill, in eastern Victoria, to Melbourne and beyond. Work on the idea continued and, on 12 March 1996, a complete train load of paper rolled away from Maryvale, bound for Australian and export markets. From then on, the dedicated seventeen-wagon train was scheduled to run from Maryvale to Melbourne and back on more than 300 days of the year under Toll Metro management.

For the previous fifty years, the company had used a mixture of rolling stock: prairie wagons, box cars, and open wagons. Road transport supplemented rail when required. In Melbourne, the wagons were either unloaded for local distribution, or sent on to interstate destinations. For most of them, that meant a stopover at the bogie exchange for conversion to standard gauge. The system was labour intensive and expensive.

When the Federal Government announced its rail standardisation program, there seemed to be possibilities to improve the system. Now, with a Melbourne—Adelaide standard gauge connection, wagons could go by standard gauge over the shortest practicable route from Melbourne to all mainland state capitals. The problem was that Maryvale was still on the Victorian broad gauge system.

Toll Metro worked out a system to minimise the handling of paper on its way to market. This would reduce costs and reduce transit damage. At Maryvale, this involved building a rail container loading pad near one of the existing spur lines. This enabled a 40-tonne top loading forklift to load and unload rail containers under cover from rain. The technology for the efficient movement of paper reels up to 2.5 metres high centred on sixty 12.2 metre road/rail containers. For these, Toll Metro chose curtain-sided Tautliners. Support equipment included prime movers with minimum height turntables coupled with low profile skeletal trailers.

With all that set out in a fully-developed plan, Australian Paper and Toll Metro convinced V/Line of the merits of providing a dedicated circuit train between Maryvale and Melbourne. This was readily agreed. The train comprised 24.4-metre VQDW wagons. In time, it grew to 19 wagons carrying over 800 tonnes of paper in 38 containers. Wagons headed interstate went to Dynon Road. Those for local delivery or export first went to Flinders Street Extension and later to North Dynon, where a 40-tonne forklift and ancillary equipment were installed to handle the containers. The improved rail arrangements reduced traffic on the highway between Maryvale and Melbourne. One locomotive on one train could move as much paper as fifty trucks.

The 2.5-metre-high reels of paper meant that the containers needed an external height of 3 metres. When placed on a skeletal trailer, this gave an overall height just over the 4.3-metre legal height. Toll Metro negotiated over-height permits on designated delivery routes within the Melbourne metropolitan area.

Volumes handled by the train grew steadily as Maryvale began to cater for Australian Paper’s New South Wales and New Zealand markets. Toll Metro began to send consignment documentation electronically, direct to the Dynon Rail terminal’s system.

Since then the rail service has gone from strength to strength, containerised paper products being transport both for export, and onward transit by rail to Brisbane and Perth.

Qube Logistics took over the contract from incumbent Victoria broad gauge freight operator Pacific National in June 2013, and today third party containers of sawn timber from a Latrobe Valley sawmill are also loaded at Maryvale, although this is small in volume.

Facts and figures

The Maryvale train usually runs with two 3300 HP diesel locomotives hauling 29 wagons, each loaded with two 40 foot ISO containers. This results in a train around 792 metres long, with an empty weight of 800-900 tonnes, and 2100-2300 tonnes fully loaded. Around 30,000 containers per year are transported by the train, with 20,000 to the Port for export and 10,000 for domestic consumption.

The rail service to Australian Paper is now a key part of their operation, which presents difficulties whenever it is severed – such as in 2012, and again in October 2014 – forty trucks needed to replace a single train.

What about the environment?

Moving freight by rail instead of road is a good thing, but what about the environment impacts of the product being moved?

The Maryvale pulp mills currently consume over 500 000 cubic metres of logs per year from state forests, which is secured under the legislated agreement and a timber sales agreement. They also consume about 130 000 cubic metres per year of offcuts from timber mills that use native forest sawlogs

Not to mention the energy used to produce it – baseload renewable energy sounds good – until you get into the detail.

Mr WELLER — What do you use for the renewable energy?
Mr McLEAN — It is a by-product of the trees primarily.
Mr WELLER — The bark?
Mr McLEAN — The liquor, as we call it, or the sap from the tree, becomes a fuel. That fuels the boilers, and the boilers generate steam to drive the paper machines. They also drive turbines for power, so we generate a lot of our own steam on-site and generate enough power for approximately 50 per cent of our requirements.
Mr KATOS — Otherwise that would have gone to landfill.
Mr McLEAN — Absolutely; that is right.

Not to mention the Energy from Waste proposal from Australian Paper.

To help manage our energy costs, Australian Paper is proposing to construct a thermal Energy from Waste (EfW) plant adjacent to our Maryvale Paper Mill site in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria.

This technology creates energy from the controlled combustion of non-hazardous waste materials that would otherwise go to landfill.

The proposed $600 million EfW plant would process up to 650,000 tonnes of residual Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) as well as Commercial and Industrial (C&I) waste.

It would allow Australian Paper to attain a sustainable, long-term and stable alternative baseload energy source to produce steam and electricity for the Maryvale Mill.

Australian Paper’s responses to concerns raised in submissions lists rail as one option to move the rubbish.

The logistics network includes three components, including: utilising the “Paper train” from Melbourne, line haul trucks from SE Melbourne transporting waste to the facility and ash to the landfills, and local Refuse Collection Vehicles collecting kerbside waste across Gippsland and transporting to the proposed EfW Facility.

But isn’t a given.

Currently there is no rail siding in SE Melbourne that could house a waste transfer station to compact waste into containers and then load onto the rail network. The existing ‘Paper train” is viewed by AP as a reliable and cost effective solution for transport to and from the Port of Melbourne. Leveraging rail is a natural opportunity for the proposed EfW facility and something Australian Paper is working towards

Sounds like a familiar story.

Footnote: more on the Maryvale mill

In 2014 Australian Paper supply chain development manager Ben McLean addressed the Inquiry into the opportunities for increasing exports of goods and services from regional Victoria, explaining the operation of the Maryvale mill:

Australian Paper is now owned by Nippon Paper, one of the Japanese paper manufacturers, a global leader in recycled papers. It is the world’s sixth largest paper manufacturing business and aims to be in the top five in the next few years.

You might be familiar with Reflex, the office paper. It is probably the most commonly known product; certainly it is a flagship product. Australian Paper also manufactures substantial quantities of packaging papers — the types of paper that would go into cardboard boxes — both recycled-based cardboard boxes and virgin fibre, which has a high humidity resistance for use in things like meat markets, removalists boxes et cetera.

We have invested in the last decade or so in a new paper machine, the M5 paper machine, which makes the Reflex paper. We upgraded our pulp mill in 2007–2008, and we currently have under construction a $90 million recycling plant for office papers. You can see there is a fairly massive capital investment required to develop the business. This enables the employment in the region of about 6000 people directly and indirectly.

We are currently recycling around about 45 000 tonnes of brown waste recycling for packaging papers. The white paper offset recycling facility will produce around 80 000 tonnes of recycled paper.

[Our products include] kraft liner board, which is the paper that goes into the cardboard boxes. Copy paper I think everyone understands. Sack and bag papers are papers that are used for sacks, like a mineral sack or a cement sack, and also could be used for foods — dog food, those sorts of things, and milk powder. The UCWF is uncoated wood-free, which is typically printing paper, the non-coated, non-glossy paper.

And their transport needs:

For our exports in particular the challenge for us is to get around 300 000 tonnes of paper from that red dot to the port. The export markets in particular are worldwide. The volume on-site is essentially 56 per cent Australian and New Zealand volumes with about 44 per cent export. A fairly substantial part of our business is export.

Our store is at the end of the rail line in Melbourne. Because we have the rail spur on site at the Maryvale Mill we do not have to go on the public roads, which means our payloads can be maximised just for the rail, which means we maximise our container payloads to the Melbourne store, and then we can get fast access to the shipping line containers in Melbourne and we can optimise the payloads of the container to get our low-freight rates to the export market.

And the challenges of exports.

From Australian Paper’s perspective exporting is something we have to do rather than something we actually desire to do. The majority of our focus is on supplying the Australian market where the revenues and profitability are obviously better, but there is a limit to that given the capacity we have at the plant.

The export challenge is that there are 37 shipping lines, 125 ports, 68 countries and over 12 000 forty-foot containers annually. We are a reasonable component of the port of Melbourne volume. The export destinations: North America, predominantly, is where the copy paper is sent, and Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America et cetera.

The challenge for us with export markets is largely one of cost. Paper is essentially a commodity product in most of these markets. You can see there, to get a feel for the economics, that the cost to take a tonne of paper from Maryvale to the wharf is around $35 a tonne, if we can pack the paper directly into the container. So if we can obtain the container from the shipping yard, bring it down on the train, pack it directly and take it straight back without having to take the paper out of the container, then it is around $35 a tonne. If we have to double handle the paper via a store, for whatever reason, it instantly goes to $52 a tonne.

Their competitive advantage.

In terms of regional Victoria’s competitive advantages, the reason why Maryvale Mill is where it is and the reason why it was built there in the first place was for trees, water and power, and the output is relatively close to the consumption base. At the time when it was built it was reasonably close to Melbourne and not far from Sydney.

For a paper mill surviving generally on forested timber, as in logged fibre, there are about four trucks going in to one truck going out, so the tree has about 25 per cent fibre in it. That is a rule of thumb you can keep in mind. It is better to be close to the fibre than it is to be close to your market, so that is why it is located where it is.

And possible growth in other freight moved by rail from Gippsland.

But the volume on rail now through Australian Paper is giving our service provider baseload, and it will now try to leverage that to try to get other customers onto the rail network. If that is successful, then that rail service provision back to us will be sustainable.

So if Qube can turn it into a sustainable business for itself and attract other customers it will not be under as much pressure to increase its costs to us. We are doing everything we can to get our business set up and operate day-to-day, month-to-month, but we are trying to help Qube leverage that infrastructure so it can actually develop the business, and in turn it will help us at the next contract review.

Footnote: high cube containers

Turns out double deck trains aren’t the only rail vehicles to have trouble with low bridges in Melbourne.

Photo by Weston Langford

The same also applies to high cube containers.

9ft 10in (3 metre) high containers are banned on the Metro Trains Melbourne Network with the exception of the Maryvale Paper Train which may operate between Melbourne Yard and Pakenham only under the following conditions:

The hours of operation are restricted between the following times:
– Sunday 19:00 and Monday 05:00.
– Monday to Thursday 21:00 and 05:00 next day.
– Friday 21:00 and 07:00 Saturday.
– Saturday 19:00 and Sunday 07:00.

The vehicles are restricted to a maximum speed of 40 km/h when operating between Caulfield and South Yarra in both directions.
The maximum height of any vehicle/container combination must not exceed 4192 mm. GPS transceivers are placed in the locomotive cabs for the purpose of speed monitoring

The 10ft 6in (3200mm) high containers are only permitted on the following tracks at Flinders Street:

• Up and Down Sandringham lines
• Via Platforms 8 & 9 and the Up and Down Special lines
• Via Platforms 3 & 4 and the Up and Down Burnley Local lines

Is the ability to pass through platforms 3 & 4 linked to it being the former stomping ground of the double deck 4D suburban train?

More photos

• APM Whitcombe loco. No. 1
• APM trains on the branch line
• More APM trains on the Maryvale branch
• Freight Australia trains on the branch

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The containers arrive at the rail head by truck, then are loaded onto the train.

Electrical cables are plugged into the wagons.

And more electrical cables join the wagons together.

To supply electricity from the onboard diesel generator set.

The gensets used by some operators are pretty spartan looking.

Some just tie down commercial gensets to ‘flatrack’ containers.

In any case, the train eventually arrives at the port.

Trucks move the containers between the rail terminal and the wharf.

The containers sometimes needing to be stacked up until their ship arrives.

Plugged into ‘shore power’ to keep the chiller unit running.

Once the ship arrives.

It’s time to load the cargo.

Then bon voyage.

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Length of the train is one factor.

As is the number of reach stackers available to move containers.

But Appendix A “train strip and reload analysis” of the Fishermans Bend Freight Corridor Advisory Services report, dated July 2016 give you something to work with.

Benchmark times for reachstacker operations were derived from observations of typical reachstacker operators at North Dynon and North Quay Rail Terminal (Fremantle) for a typical carry distance around 100 metres. Times at both locations were surprisingly similar.

Container size	20’ containers	40’ containers
Unloading train (per container)	1 min 30 sec	1 min 45 sec
Loading train (per container)	1 min 45 sec	2 min 0 sec

Table A.1 : Reachstacker train loading and unloading benchmark times

The Port Rail Shuttle train capacity is assumed at 84 TEU, with equal numbers of 20’ and 40’ containers. This means there would be 28 20’ containers and 28 x 40’. The time required to undertake a complete train strip and reload would be:

Unload 28 x 20’ = 28 x 1. 5 min = 42 min
Unload 28 x 40’ = 28 x 1.75 min = 49 min
Load 28 x 20’ = 28 x 1.75 = 49 min
Load 28 x 40’ = 28 x 2.0 min = 56 min

Total = 196 min, or 3 hours 16 min

The maximum number of reachstackers that can efficiently work a train is generally agreed at one reachstacker per 100-120 m of train.

Port Rail Shuttle trains will have 42 wagons each around 13.1 m (the commonly used CFCLA CQPY two slot container flat is 13,053 mm coupler centre to coupler centre), making to freight carrying train length around 546 m.

Thus the maximum number of reachstackers that could be deployed efficiently is five per train. 196 min / 5 = 39.2 minutes.

If only two reachstackers were available, they would complete this task in 1 hour 38 mins, still within the two hour requirement. Similarly, even if these times proved to be 50% too low, the task of 392 minutes could be performed in less than two hours by four reachstackers.

So go forth and calculate!

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Early in the morning, a load of gravel heads east to the Hanson concrete plant at Westall.

After morning peak the train returns, headed back to the quarry a Kilmore East for another load.

Just before lunchtime the southbound steel train passes through, headed for the Bluescope steel mill at Hastings.

After lunch, a load of containers rolls through bound for the Port of Melbourne.

The freight trains cease for the evening peak, and passenger trains take over.

But after suburban service frequencies drop, the freights start rolling again – first the return steel train, bound for the Melbourne Freight Terminal.

And then the return Maryvale paper train, headed back to Gippsland

Which tracks do freight trains use

There are ten ‘through’ platforms at Flinders Street Station – platform 11 no longer exists, platform 12 and 13 are extensions of platform 10, and platform 14 is out of use.

But there are a total of 12 through tracks – the extras being track 1A between platform 1 and 2.

And track 9A between platforms 9 and 10.

Freight trains are usually routed via track 9A, but they will occasionally be seen passing through platforms 7 through 9, depending on what other trains are running.

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A crash involving two trucks and four cars has closed part of Melbourne's Monash Freeway this morning.

But incredibly, police say no-one was seriously hurt.

Three people have been taken to hospital, two with minor injuries and the third is in a stable condition. pic.twitter.com/cs8h2x7FXJ

— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) July 24, 2019

Cleanaway started operating their fleet of massive A-Double trucks from May 2017, following the opening of the South East Melbourne Transfer Station in Dandenong.

The facility acts as a consolidation point for rubbish collected from residential and commercial customers in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, where it is compressed into semi-trailers.

Then trucked 60 kilometres across Melbourne.

Eventually ending up at Ravenhall, where it is dumped into the Melbourne Regional Landfill.

On opening the South East Melbourne transfer station accepted a total of 580,000 tonnes of waste per annum, and has EPA approval to increase to a peak of 650,000 tonnes by 2029.

Assuming 286 operational weekdays per year, this means 2028 tonnes of rubbish needs to be moved per day – increasing to 2273 tonnes per day once the transfer station reaches design capacity.

Transported by A-double vehicles with an average load of 43 tonnes per truck, this give as weekday average of 47 trucks per day, increasing to 53 trucks per day at the peak – or six trucks per hour!

No wonder pedestrians avoid the road to Caroline Springs station like the plague.

A short history of these ‘monster’ trucks

Back in 2009 VicRoads commenced a two year trial of bigger ‘High Productivity Freight Vehicles’ serving the Port of Melbourne.

But with plans to introduce them elsewhere:

The use of next generation High Productivity Freight Vehicles (HPFVs) on key dedicated routes has the potential to reduce the number of trucks by almost a third, and reduce emissions and the cost of travel by up to 22 per cent on these routes.

With Victoria’s freight task forecast to approximately double by 2030, next generation HPFVs will be an important way to mitigate increasing congestion, emissions and the cost of our goods.

The trial of next generation HPFVs is an important step in the implementation of a Performance-Based Standards approach to heavy vehicle regulation in Victoria and the broader introduction of new, safe and efficient freight vehicles.

In 2013 the number of roads available to these massive trucks was expanded, following the adoption of the ‘Moving More with Less’ plan, and the types of trucks expanded to include 30-metre long A-doubles in 2017 thanks to the Performance Based Standard (PBS) scheme for trailers.

But is there another way?

Travelling from the Cleanaway transfer station at Dandenong South to the tip at Ravenhall is a 60 kilometre long trip across Melbourne, that takes around an hour via the Monash Freeway, CityLink, West Gate Bridge, Western Ring Road, and Deer Park Bypass.

But the Boral quarry next door to the Ravenhall tip already has a railway siding.

Which branches off the Ballarat line at Caroline Springs station.

With just a 1.3 kilometre drive between it and the tip.

The South East Melbourne Transfer Station is also near a rail siding.

Located on the Cranbourne line at Lyndhurst.

It may be a 7 kilometre long drive across Dandenong South.

But the siding is the site of a future inland port:

Salta’s Lyndhurst terminal is located near Dandenong
• 50,000 m/3 warehouse constructed for Bunnings
• Terminal yet to be constructed
• PRS shuttle trains would use:
• Broad gauge Pakenham & Cranbourne suburban rail lines
• Broad gauge V/Line & ARTC lines between Southern Cross and the Port

So why wasn’t the South East Melbourne Transfer Station built at the Lyndhurst intermodal terminal, with rubbish loaded into containers then transferred by train across Melbourne to Ravenhall, then trucked the last leg of the journey to the tip face?

Sydney proves it works

In 2004 Sydney ran out of space to bury their rubbish, so the Woodlawn open-cut mine near Goulburn was converted into a rubbish tip. Rubbish is loaded at the Clyde transfer station in western Sydney, but instead of a fleet of trucks, it is loaded onto a train.

Photo by Grahamec, via Wikimedia Commons

Each week six 55-carriage trains make the 250-kilometre journey, carrying 1200 tonnes of rubbish each time.

And back to Melbourne

Think moving bulk freight across Melbourne by rail won’t work?

Well, every weekday 1500 tonnes worth of worth of gravel roll through Flinders Street, loaded at a quarry in Kilmore East and bound for Westall.

As does 2000 tonnes of containers headed from Gippsland to the Port of Melbourne.

And 3000 tonnes of coil steel, headed for Hastings.

All three trains have been running since the 1970s – which proves that if there is a will to get freight onto rail, there is a way.

Sources

Melbourne Regional Landfill – Ravenhall.

• A new era in Melbourne’s south east as Cleanaway opens SEMTS (May 5, 2017)
• Traffic and Transport Assessment for the Melbourne Regional Landfill – Ravenhall (14 September 2016)

Bigger trucks.

• Monash Freeway reopens after multi-vehicle smash at peak hour, herald Sun (July 25, 2019)
• Victorian high productivity vehicles, Advantia Transport Consulting
• Victoria’s new HPFV networks for 30-metre A-doubles, Advantia Transport Consulting
• HPFVs – Moving more with less, VicRoads
• Performance Based Standards, joint report by the NHVR and ARTSA (2019 Edition)
• PBS Vehicle Configurations, National Heavy Vehicle Regulator
• Port Rail Shuttle Project Outline

Rubbish trains in Sydney.

• A complete space of waste, Sydney Morning Herald (August 2, 2004)
• Woodlawn Bioreactor, Veolia

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Roadtrip!

I started my journey in the south-west down at Camperdown, where I caught up with this short train made up of just two empty flat wagons.

The train was on the way back to Melbourne, having been abandoned in Warrnambool after the end of El Zorro’s ill fated attempt at running the Warrnambool freight service.

I then headed east, pausing at the dive that was Westall station. With only two platforms, the only access was via a pedestrian crossing at the down end, and the timber station buildings were missing thanks to an arson attack.

Today the station is a grand monolith, completed in 2011 at a cost of $151 million – with a third platform for terminating trains, and an overhead footbridge providing access over the tracks.

I also paused at a red brick traction substation and overhead wires on the main Gippsland line at Bunyip.

Constructed in the 1950s as part of the electrification of the main Gippsland railway line, as part of the first main line electrification project in Australia. Electrification was cut back to Warragul in 1987, to Bunyip in 1998, before ceasing entirely beyond Pakenham in 2001.

The wires and substation were removed in 2004, except for the substation and a short section of overhead at Bunyip, which are covered by a heritage listing.

I then headed for the South Gippsland Railway, where heritage trains once operated along the former Leongatha railway.

I rode the train to the end of the line at Nyora.

Then back to the other end at Leongatha.

The railway disbanded in 2016, due to a lack of volunteer labour.

I also headed into the Latrobe Valley on the search for freight trains.

My first find at the Australian Paper mill in Morwell, where containers were being loaded for the trip to the Port of Melbourne.

It still runs today, taking hundreds of trucks off the Monash Freeway each day.

I also headed further east to Bairnsdale, where I found a train being loaded with logs.

Then followed it back to Melbourne, where I caught it at Stratford, crossing the timber bridge over the Avon River.

The train transported cut logs to the Midway woodchip mill at Geelong, where they would be sent to the paper mills of Japan. The native forests of Gippsland are still being logged today, but the train no longer runs – the timber is transported by road instead.

As for the timber bridge over the Avon River, it is still there today, but the state government is funding a $95 million replacement, which will allow the 10 km/h speed limit to be raised.

A ‘powerful’ diversion

While in the Latrobe Valley I also toured Victoria’s aging fleet of brown coal fired power stations.

I started at the PowerWorks visitors centre in Morwell, where a retired coal dredger is preserved.

As well as a narrow gauge electric locomotive once used in the Yallourn open cut mine.

Then I went past Energy Brix briquette plant next door.

Which closed in 2014.

Then across to the Hazelwood power station.

Back then the ‘West Field’ expansion of the open cut brown coal mine was underway, with a number of roads being closed to make room for the future hole.

But that effort didn’t really pay off – the aging dinosaur of a power station closed in 2017.

Still hanging on is the Yallourn W power station, completed in 1973-1982.

And the Loy Yang power station and and open cut mine.

In addition to the slightly cleaner gas turbine plant at Jeeralang.

And an interesting piece of technology – the Loy Yang Static Inverter Plant, the Victorian end of the Basslink high voltage DC undersea transmission line that connects Tasmania to the national electricity grid.

Headed north

I then headed back on the trail of trains, heading over to Seymour where work had started on the gauge conversion of the railway north to Albury.

I also followed a special train operated by the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre to Tocumwal.

With Santa saving from the rear platform.

Captured a V/Line train passing the since removed mechanical signals at Kilmore East.

Passed the crummy facilities that passed for a station at Donnybrook.

And saw gravel being loaded into a train, ready to be transported by rail to concrete plants across Melbourne, instead of a fleet of trucks.

I then headed west, to photograph a V/Line train at Ballan station.

It won’t look like the above very longer – a second platform and overhead footbridge is now under construction.

I also stopped in at Deer Park.

Work on the Deer Park Bypass was underway, making it quicker for people in Melbourne’s west to drive towards the city, as well as for trucks transporting interstate freight.

But no investment was coming for Deer Park station. Once part of the main route between Melbourne and Adelaide, bidirectional signalling was provided so that faster moving passenger trains could overtake the far heavier and slower freight trains.

But only a gravel platform was provided for passengers, visited by a V/Line train every two hours, if that.

It took until 2015 for the poor level of service to be fixed, following the completion of Regional Rail Link.

But unfortunately the cost cutting to the project saw the bidirectional signalling removed, resulting in major delays to V/Line services every time a train breaks down in the section.

Two steps forward, another back?

Another place on the fringe of Melbourne’s urban sprawl is Diggers Rest, which back then was only served by V/Line services.

As was Sunbury, which saw a number of V/Line shortworkings terminate there in order to pump up the frequency to something worth using.

The $270 million electrification of the Sunbury line was completed in 2012, seeing suburban trains extended to the town, but but many of the locals weren’t happy – they preferred waiting around on a cold platform then ride a comfortable V/Line train.

And back to Geelong

Finally, we end close to home at Geelong.

I visited the remains of the Fyansford cement works.

The silos were still in place.

As were the railway sidings once used to despatch the finished product.

But the cement kilns at the base of the hill were long gone.

Today the silos are still there, but the tracks were removed in 2011, and the rest of the site redeveloped as houses.

I found a VLocity train bound for Marshall station, heading through an unprotected level crossing.

Rather than upgrade the crossing, in 2008 it was closed to vehicle traffic.

At North Shore I captured The Overland westbound for Adelaide.

The newly refurbished train had entered service in mid-2008 in an attempt to reinvigorate the dying service, but it doesn’t do much good – it was almost cancelled in 2015 following an impasse over funding, with it now set to end in 2018 after SA government declined to extended the arrangement further.

The rollout of ‘Parkiteer’ bike cages at railway stations had started, with South Geelong receiving one.

Platform extension works were also underway.

In September 2008 then Minister for Public Transport, Lynne Kosky, announced that longer trains would be deployed to the Geelong line, requiring platform extension works.

These trains continued to run until June 2015, when Geelong trains commenced using the new Regional Rail Link tracks and the trains were cut back to just six cars in length.

And finally after years of trying, I was finally in the right place at the right time and captured the daily V/Line overtaking move outside Geelong.

Until 2015 on the Geelong line, two V/Line services would depart Geelong each morning a few minutes apart. The first train would stop all stations, while the second train would run express to Melbourne, overtaking the slower train.

Finding this overtaking point was more art than science – even a 30 second delay to either train could move it a kilometre or so down the line, so all I could do was pick a spot lineside, and hope that I wouldn’t have to come back another day to try again.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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