In order to meet TasRail’s objectives and Shareholder expectations, the Board and management of TasRail have developed a comprehensive investment program proposal that addresses the under-investment of the past, and provides a sound foundation for growing the business going forward.  The proposal is for funding that is in addition to the significant funds that the Tasmanian and Commonwealth Governments have already committed, which have and are being used for important track improvements.

The proposed investment program is designed to address TasRail’s current safety and reliability issues by directing funding into:

• General track upgrading – much of the rail and sleepers are life-expired, and little improvement work has been carried out on other critical infrastructure such as the track formation, culverts, drainage systems, etc.
• New locomotives – almost all of the current fleet is greater than 30 years old, there is lack of compatibility across the fleet which affects the efficiency and flexibility of our operations, and many components for some of the locomotives are no longer available which significantly increases the cost of maintaining the fleet.
• New wagons – we’ve inherited many different and incompatible wagons from the mainland, the result of which is an operation that requires significant additional shunting, has restricted payload issues, and has inherent safety issues which need to be managed.
• Modern train control system – the current system relies almost totally on human interfaces and manual procedures, and in today’s environment is considered to rely excessively on these administrative safety controls.
• Upgraded equipment in our workshops will enable us to increase the throughput of our maintenance activities and hence reduce the cost of such work.