Regional transport systems of the world

Part 6. Transport in Australia and Oceania

Transport systems of Australia and New Zealand take an intermediate place and combine a number of characteristics pertaining to highly-developed capitalist countries, mainly Western European states (Australia has some features common to transport systems of Canada and the USA), and to the developing states of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Transitional features of Australian transport system are connected with political and economic history of the country. Colonies of immigrants from Europe formed the state which later became a dominion but kept the role of an agricultural and resource providing segment of an industrial state.

This situation was mainly caused by the union of several British colonies which formed a federation on the continent. Typically for colonial countries, Australia features:

· different-gauge railways (each state has its own railway track standard);

· low level of railway electrification (only 3%).

Road transportation infrastructure demonstrates only 50 % of paved roads, 1/4 of roads are improved. However, cargo traffic on road transport is quite high (60% which is twice higher than on railway transport). Internal waterway and pipeline transport is not very well-developed.

Australia has the second highest level of car ownership in the world. It has three to four times more road per capita than Europe and seven to nine times more than Asia. Australia also has the third highest per capita rate of fuel consumption in the world. Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane are rated among the most car-dependent cities in the world, with Sydney and Melbourne close behind. Furthermore, the distance travelled by car in Australia is among the highest in the world, being exceeded by the USA and Canada. There are 3 different categories of Australian roads: federal highways; state highways; local roads.

The road network comprises a total of 913, 000 km.

The railway network is large, comprising a total of 33, 819 km (2, 540 km electrified) of track: 3, 719 km broad gauge, 15, 422 km standard gauge, 14, 506 km narrow gauge and 172 km dual gauge. Rail transport started in the various colonies at different dates. Privately owned railways started the first lines, and struggled to succeed on a remote, huge, and sparsely populated continent, and government railways dominated. Although the various colonies had been advised by London to choose a common gauge, the colonies ended up with different gauges.

The Great Southern Railway operates three links: the Indian Pacific (Sydney-Adelaide-Perth), The Ghan (Adelaide-Alice Springs-Darwin), and The Overland (Melbourne-Adelaide). Country Link Railway services Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne via Sydney.

Australia's inland waterways are not a significant means commercial transport. The steamers proved unable to compete with rail, and later, road transport. Traffic now on inland waterways is therefore largely restricted to private recreational craft.

As of 2006, the Australian merchant fleet consists of 53 ships of 1, 000 gross register tons or over. Over recent years the number of Australian registered and flagged ships has greatly declined, from 75 ships in 1996 to less than 40 in 2007, by 2009 the number had approached 30.

Ports are Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Fremantle, Geelong, Gladstone, Port Lincoln, Mackay, Melbourne, Newcastle, Portland, Sydney.

Australians living in remote and isolated areas rely on a weekly air service for the carriage of passengers and goods, including medicines, fresh food and educational materials. Australia Post uses some of the same air operators to deliver mail under separate contracts.

Regional aviation refers to that part of the aviation industry that engages in scheduled commercial airline activity between regional areas or between regional areas and capital cities. Traditionally, regional aviation services have been identified as those airlines performing regular public transport services and whose fleets contain exclusively low capacity aircraft (38 seats or less or with a payload of 4, 200 kilograms or less). However, Australia's regional airlines now commonly use larger aircraft. Some regional areas are also serviced by jet aircraft operated by major domestic airlines.

Pipelines

There are several pipeline systems including: crude oil: 2, 500 km; petroleum products: 500 km; natural gas: 5, 600 km.

Transport in New Zealand, with its mountainous topography and a relatively small population mostly located near its long coastline, has always faced many challenges. Before Europeans arrived, Mā ori either walked or used watercraft on rivers or along the coasts. Later on, European shipping and railways revolutionized the way of transporting goods and people, before being themselves overtaken by road and air, which are nowadays the dominant forms of transport. However, bulk freight still continues to be transported by coastal shipping and by rail transport.

The State Highway network of 10, 895 km is the principal road infrastructure connecting New Zealand urban centres. The state highways carry 50% of all New Zealand road traffic, with the motorways alone carrying 9% of all traffic.

New Zealand has left-hand traffic on its roads. The road network of New Zealand has its origins in these tracks and paths used by Mā ori and later by Europeans in their early travels through New Zealand. Several major Mā ori tracks were known, such as the western coastal track was used along the whole length of the North Island, and the track on the East Coast. In the South Island, another major track existed down the east coast. Initial roads, such as the Great South Road southwards from Auckland, were often built by the British Army to move troops, and were constructed to a comparatively high standard.

Wellington was for a long time the only city of New Zealand that retained a well-patronised commuter rail system. Only in the 2000s was there a rise in Auckland's commuter rail, driven in great part by new investment in infrastructure.

There is a total of 3, 898 km of railway line in New Zealand, built to the narrow gauge of 1, 067 mm. Of this, 506 km is electrified. The national network is owned by state-owned enterprise New Zealand Railways Corporation division of KiwiRail Network. The national network consists of three main trunk lines, seven secondary main lines, and around ninety branch lines. The majority of the latter are now closed. Most lines were constructed by government but a few were of private origin, later nationalised.

Bulk freights dominate services, particularly coal, logs and wood products, milk and milk products, fertiliser, containers, steel and cars. Long distance passenger services are limited to three routes – the TranzAlpine (Christchurch – Greymouth), the TranzCoastal (Christchurch – Picton) and the Overlander (Wellington – Auckland). Urban rail services operate in Wellington and Auckland, and interurban services run between Palmerston North and Wellington (the Capital Connection) and Masterton and Wellington (the Wairarapa Connection).

New Zealand has a long history of international and coastal shipping. Both Maori and the New Zealand European settlers arrived from overseas, and during the early European settler years, coastal shipping was one of the main methods of transportation, while it was hard to move goods to or from the hinterlands, thus limiting the locations of early settlement.[2]

The two main islands are separated by Cook Strait, 24 km wide at its narrowest point, but requiring a 70-km ferry trip to cross. This is the only large-scale long-distance car / passenger shipping service left, with all others restricted to short ferry routes to islands like Stewart Island/Rakiura or Great Barrier Island.

New Zealand has 1, 609 km of navigable inland waterways; however these are no longer significant transport routes.

As noted above, coastal shipping has long played a significant role in New Zealand. It was very efficient for moving large amounts of goods, and relatively quick.

Regular roll-on roll-off ferry services link the North and South Islands between Wellington and Picton, since 1962. Interisland Line, a division of KiwiRail, owns the main inter-island ferry service, the Interislander. Two of the three ferries used by the Interislander, the Arahura and the Aratere, are rail ferries with special rail decks.

Depending on the vessel, usual transit time between the North and South Islands is between three hours and three hours twenty minutes. Faster catamaran ferries were used by Tranz Rail and its competitors.

Smaller ferries operate in the Bay of Islands, Rawene (Northland), Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, the Marlborough Sounds and Lyttelton (Christchurch), and between Bluff and Halfmoon Bay (Stewart Island/Rakiura).

Passenger ferry service also operated for many years between Wellington and Lyttleton (the port closest to Christchurch).

Container ports are: Ports of Auckland (Auckland), Port of Tauranga (Tauranga), Napier, Wellington, Lyttelton (Christchurch), Port Chalmers (Dunedin)

Other ports: Whangarei, Devonport (Auckland), Gisborne, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Nelson, Picton, Westport, Greymouth, Timaru, Bluff

Freshwater ports: Rotorua (Lake Rotorua), Taupo (Lake Taupo), Queenstown and Kingston (Lake Wakatipu), Te Anau and Manapouri (Lake Manapouri).

In 2002, there were 113 airports in New Zealand. The main international airport is Auckland Airport, which handled about 11 million passengers in 2005. Christchurch Airport around 6 million passengers per year and Wellington Airport around 5 million passengers per year.

Fig.1.6. Map of airports in New Zealand

There are 160 km of pipelines for petroleum products; natural gas 1, 000 km; liquified petroleum gas (LPG) 150 km in New Zealand.