Fremantle Road to Rail Charter

In the past few years the Department of Transport’s focus has shifted away from rail as a means of transporting freight destined for Fremantle Port. In order to right the balance, a group of concerned community members have decided to launch a public campaign dedicated to moving freight onto rail.

We are concerned at the volume of heavy vehicle traffic through our residential areas, emitting greenhouse gases and generating particulate and other pollution, noise and unsafe conditions on the roads. We are also alarmed at the declining percentage of freight on rail, which has fallen from 17% in 2007 to 11% in 2011. As a result, there are increasing numbers of trucks on our roads and plans to widen several roads in the Fremantle area, impacting on homes and existing green space.

With the decisions to double container volume at Fremantle Port in the next 10 years and to have the Port grow for the next 50 years, it is important that the government invest now in the infrastructure to support it.

We deplore:
• the Department of Transport’s preference for road freight over rail;
• the lack of long-term planning to increase the volume of freight transported by rail;
• the lack of transport strategies to reduce CO2 emissions and address peak oil predictions;
• the conflict engendered in communities over which community will most suffer the effects of road widening for truck freight movements.

We want to see:
• rail become the major mode of transportation of freight to and from Fremantle Port;
• inter-modal hubs in key areas, permitting the easy transfer of freight from rail to ship and rail to truck and vice versa;
• a container park located at Kewdale, connected by rail to the inner harbour to convey container freight and reduce empty truck movements;
• the Spearwood Scrap Metal Yard connected to the freight rail line and all scrap metal transported on rail;
• live sheep and cattle transported by rail to ship and then, once the live export trade is phased out, to a state-of-the-art abattoir;
• monitoring of particulate pollution in residential areas adjoining major roads;
• higher vehicle emissions standards for the remaining trucks on the road;
• a cessation of road widening and building for increasing truck movements through residential areas;
• the preservation of homes and green space in the Fremantle area.

We the undersigned would like to see immediate action taken to implement the changes outlined in this charter.