Blue Mountains freight transport going off the rails

On Thursday morning May 27, Ms Rhiannon will be speaking at a rally organised by Blackheath Transport Action Group outside the Ivanhoe Hotel in Blackheath.

"NSW needs more freight going onto rail, not less," Ms Rhiannon said

"This decision by Patrick’s to cease transporting freight by rail will lead to thousands more trucks on the road in the Blue Mountains every week.

"The Great Western Highway passes through a variety of school zones in different Blue Mountains villages, with a mixture of pedestrian, local and tourist traffic – a completely inappropriate environment for road freight.

"Trucks are the most energy intensive way of moving freight, and in this era of climate change the government should be expanding freight rail operations.

"Along with compromising air quality and increasing greenhouse gas emissions, transporting more freight by road will threaten the immediate safety of communities in the Blue Mountains,

"A report by the NSW Auditor-General in May last year revealed that crashes and injuries involving heavy vehicles are rising, and that only one in seven heavy vehicles being identified as a safety risk are being checked.

"The government must stop subsidising and encouraging road freight or risk a big increase in accidents and deaths from trucks as their numbers rise.

"In NSW registration fees for B-Doubles are heavily subsidised. In 2008, a scheme subsidising fuel transported across the Blue Mountains by rail was cut.

"It is estimated that road freight in NSW is going to double by 2020.

The NSW government needs to start investing in getting more of this freight back on the rails," Ms Rhiannon said.　

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