Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources

Constructing a modern road-rail facility and rail hub – Brighton Tasmania

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AusIntermodal– 31st October 2012Norm Mcilfatrick, Secretary - Infrastructure, Energy and Resources, Tasmania

• The Brighton Transport Hub, along with sister project the Brighton Bypass has been completed over the past three years.

• The State Government has provided $79m for Transport Hub while the Common-wealth has contributed $189m for the Highway Bypass.

• TasRail has been appointed the operator of the Transport Hub and has commenced transition to the Hub from the Hobart Waterfront

The Brighton Transport Hub was commissioned in early 2012

• In 2008 the decision was made to invest in an “in-land” Port some

20km north-west of Hobart

• Why?

– Historically, the Port of Hobart was the main trading port for

southern Tasmania

– Freight shipping in and out of Hobart Port had declined

dramatically over the past 10 -20 years

– Conversely, tourist and Antarctic supply shipping was growing

strongly

– However, the freight task between southern Tasmania and

northern ports continued to increase, and was predicated to

double by 2020

– Rail was struggling to compete, particularly with reliability in

delivery; and..........

Government began thinking about the need for a Transport Hub over 10 years ago

This is happening............ just 100m...............from this!

The intermodal was inefficient, ill equipped for handling the size or

types of today’s trains, and was constrained by other development

The catalyst - the land was identified as a site for a new Hospital!

The Hobart site was attractive for other uses!

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The new lay-out was designed for growth, in a satellite suburb on the North-South Rail and Road corridor.

Department of Infrastructure Energy and Resources 6

While Northern ports dominate sea-freight – land freight is much more distributed.

• B Double road transport dominates

• Rail carries some significant specialist loads – but only 20% of the overall freight task in Tasmania

• Plenty of opportunity for growth in rail through improved reliability (investment underway); and

• Better interchange options

• Brighton Transport Hub

– significant intermodal/ logisticsimprovement North-South freight

– Road-Road and Road -Rail

– will take hours off the Burnie/ Hobart and Bell Bay/ Hobart rail round trips.

• Bell Bay Port rail head

– Moderate investment to replicate the 500m hard-stand at Brighton ($9m)

• Burnie Port upgrade

– $8m port/ rail reconfiguration leverages the investment at Brighton

– Tasports, TasRail and Toll co-operatively on development ($8m)

Department of Infrastructure Energy and Resources

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Brighton is the first step in improved freight logistics overall

• Government approved the site in August 2008 after an exhaustiveassessment process that involved:

– Development of functional specifications -criteria toassess suitable locations

– Investigation of land within 40 kms of Hobart short-listed,with seven possible locations for assessment

– Extensive due diligence of two short-listed sites– Final site selection and recommendation

Where did we start in 2008?

• Strong support from local government (Brighton Council) and the community.

• Aligned with Council development strategies– active encouragement of

relocating building, construction, agricultural and transport industry sectors.

• Freight capacity for 100,000 TEU pa, rising to a forecast 400,000 TEU pa in 2030

Site adjacent to Category 1 highway and existing, rapidly expanding industrial estate.

• We took on two large projects together – Transport Hub and Brighton Hwy Bypass– One needed a lot of earth moved

– The other needed a lot of fill

Decided on an Early Contractor Involvement process for both – A previously untried model for the Department

– Awarded separate but linked contracts;

– Two Joint venture partners for each (~100m+ component)

– Local/ National JV in each case

• Delivered both projects, close to budget, overcoming substantial hurdles along the way

Was the vision delivered? –We took a risk on a new approach!

We carried out significant Heritage work– And found we were in a highly travelled historic area

– From Aboriginal and early European perspectives

– 13ha of the 50ha site has been voluntarily protected as a consequence

• There is no doubt that this project and the related Bypass have been the most confronting for my agency and the Aboriginal community than any other transport project.

Where to from here:

• Tasmania can’t operate with a 1975 Aboriginal Relic Act, now well over due from a developer and the Aboriginal community perspective– New legislation now underway

Was the vision delivered? –Heritage work was significant with huge impact!

We were rail-roaded!

• In June 2009 the owners of the RailSystem decided to leave the state!

• Deflecting our attention for a while, and threatening the project viability

• This is another story, but we are now back on track!!

• TasRail established as Government Owned Corporation for all rail operations in December 200

Was the vision delivered? –Some changes happened on the way !

• Gas transmission pipeline was close to the site!

• New owner over-ruled previous decision on risk;

• Wanted in-perpetuity risk transferred to the crown!

• This could never be acceptable – plenty of legal effort to resolve

• In the end:

We moved the pipeline ($6m)!

Was the vision delivered? –Gas Pains!

• The hospital project was cancelled – taking away primary urgency driver– However, resulted in much wider opportunity options

for the Hobart Waterfront– Now the centre of a significant urban renewal project

• Major logistics players have been slow to take up the site opportunity– Economic down-turn– Less urgency to move off current Port site – However, close to securing a major player (six months

behind schedule)

Was the vision delivered? –Some changes happened on the way !

The project was delivered ahead of schedule, with the gas relocation the only budget variance.

Was the vision delivered? –Some changes happened on the way !