Question On Notice No. 2162 asked in the Legislative Council on 23 October 2014 by Hon Lynn Maclaren
Question Directed to the: Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for Transport
Parliament: 39 Session: 1
Question
Regarding the use of timber railway sleepers for re-sleepering rail lines maintained by Brookfield Rail, I ask:
(a) how many timber railway sleepers have been commissioned;
(b) how many have been milled in Western Australia, and at what mills;
(c) given that railway sleepers are not considered to be value-added products, who authorises the use of native forest timber for railway sleepers;
(d) do all sleepers still comply with the relevant Australian Standards, including AS 3818 Part 2;
(e) if yes to (d), how does the Minister know that they comply;
(f) are timber sleepers required to comply with other standards;
(g) if yes to (f), what are those standards, and will the Minister please table a copy;
(h) how many timber railway sleepers have been delivered to date;
(i) how many timber railway sleepers have been installed already and where;
(j) how many timber railway sleepers remain to be delivered;
(k) how much has the State Government committed to pay to Brookfield Rail for re-sleepering rail lines;
(l) how much has already been paid; and
(m) how much of the amount already paid was for timber railway sleepers?
Answered on 17 February 2015
In relation to the recent re-sleepering program funded by the Government:
(a) 293 239 new timber sleepers were inserted. 76 106 timber sleepers were re-used. The Public Transport Authority (PTA) has also initiated a trial of Low Profile Concrete Sleepers on the WA Grain Lines project with low profile concrete sleepers in a 1 in 2 configuration with the existing steel sleepers along a 53.25 km section of track between Avon and Goomalling in the Kwinana North zone to allow testing of the suitability as an alternative to jarrah sleepers.
(b) All new timber sleepers were milled in Western Australia at Redmond Sawmill, Chowerup Sawmill, Nannup Timber Processing, Whiteland Milling and Australian Craftwood and Timber (ACT)
(c) Given that the timber sleepers used in the re-sleepering program were from lower quality logs (e.g. 3rd grade, bole logs), which in general are not used for value-added products, no authorisation is required.
(d) All new sleepers complied with Australian Standard (AS) 3818 at the time of insertion. In relation to an individual order for the supply of 6 000 only timber (jarrah) sleepers from ACT to Brookfield Rail (BR) around July 2011:
• 6 000 timber sleepers were sourced direct from ACT stock as a matter of high priority with immediate delivery to site, omitting the normal "at mill" inspection process by Forrest Products Commission (FPC) because of time constraints.
• ACT "self-assessed" the timber sleepers to ensure that suitable/conforming sleepers were dispatched.
• All timber sleepers were inspected by experienced BR on site supervisors to ensure compliance with the BR specification.
• FPC followed up by visiting the resleepering site and inspecting same and were satisfied that they conformed to either BR specification or AS 3818.2.
(e) Authorisation notice issued by the PTA to Brookfield Rail for supply of timber sleepers required them to be:
• Supplied by the FPC and be Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) sourced;
• Cut from lower quality logs (e.g. 3rd grade, bole logs); and
• Inspected and independently stamped in accordance with AS3818-2.
• All timber sleepers were inspected to ensure conformance with either the BR (previously WestNet Rail) specification or the new AS 3818.2. In essence, both these standards are very similar; relying on visual inspection/grading for size conformity, defects etc
(f) No.
(g) Not applicable
(h) 294 813 new timber sleepers were delivered.
(i) 293 239 new timber sleepers and 76 106 re-used timber sleepers have been installed on the following lines:
• Avon Yard to Narrogin
• Wagin to Redmond
• Goomalling to McLevie
• Amery to Kalannie
• Burakin to Beacon
• Wagin to Newdegate
• Lake Grace to Hyden
• Goomalling to Wyalkatchem
• Wyalkatchem to Mukinbudin
(j) Nil.
(k) The cost of the resleepering works was $162.268m being: Commonwealth $117.109m, State $27.909m, Brookfield Rail $17.250m.
(l) All of the amounts provided at part (k) have been paid.
(m) $15.825m.