Rail CRC Research Helps Save Old-growth Forests
RAIL CRC research has established the suitability of an innovative
technique to transform softwood into timber suitable for railway
sleepers.
The Rail CRC research project was led by Queensland University of
Technology Faculty of Built Environment & Engineering senior
lecturer Dr Martin Murray, and has been developed in conjunction
with the CRC for Wood Innovations, based at Swinburne University of
Technology, near Melbourne.
Rail CRC Project Manager and principal of John Hearsch Consulting,
John Hearsch, said the project team had completed a series of
tests, which had proved the technical suitability of softwood
timber for rail sleepers.
“Using softwood timber for railway sleepers is something that
hasn’t been applied in Australia previously,” Mr
Hearsch said. "The major benefit is the ongoing supply of
softwood grown in plantations.
“The ongoing supply of durable hardwood – generally
from old-growth forests – is becoming more and more
problematic for the rail industry.
“High-volume rail network traffic-areas generally now use
concrete sleepers, but they are almost double the initial cost of
hardwood timber and require a much greater depth of clean ballast
under the sleepers.
“This makes them simply not viable for use on the extensive,
but more lightly used secondary rail network, predominantly used by
the grain industry.
“This project has a lot to do with the survival of the
secondary rail network across Australia, particularly in
grain-growing areas,” Mr Hearsch said.
Mr Hearsch said the CRC for Wood Innovations was carrying out
further research into whether the softwood sleepers could be
produced to specifications required by the rail industry.
The project also considered a range of other substitute material
for the traditional hardwood sleepers, including plantation
hardwood and composites.
The sleeper substitute-material project is one of approximately 40
Rail CRC research projects established and supported under the
Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres
Programme.
Rail CRC consists of rail industry partners – Rail Corp, TMG
Rail Technology, ARTC, Pacific National, and Queensland Rail - and
six university partners – Queensland University of
Technology, the University of Wollongong, University of South
Australia, Central Queensland University, Monash University, and
The University of Queensland.
