Compared to other developed countries, Australia has a very small population and massive land area that interstate transport solutions are required to factor in. Cities and key population centers are separated by hundreds or thousands of kilometers, and the distances traveled by Australians are among the highest on the world.

There are the usual choices - rail, truck, ship and air, but low population density and vast distances for difficult economics and the ROI of any freight distribution needs to be considered carefully.

Freight Problems

The last decade has witnessed Australian railways cutting back on the number of trains available to carry freight, finding them to be unviable for a variety of reasons. This has resulted in truck use - trailers and semi-trailers - increasing substantially, and most goods on the East coast of Australia are now carried by truck. However it takes 150 trucks to match the carrying capability of one freight train. The improvement of road infrastructure hasn't’t kept pace with this huge demand, leading to more congestion on the principal National and connecting roads and a growth in accidents.

In most areas, particularly close to or in crowded population centers, trucks are restricted to two trailers, and most long-haul freight is now on double-trailer trucks, which were authorized by Federal government in 2007. Though it is much more affordable to use even longer road-trains, they’re only permitted on a limited network of roads in the far North and West.

Although you do see a lot of road construction going ahead on the East-coast, linking Brisbane to Sydney to Melbourne, it’s not nearly sufficient to keep pace with what's needed and there are still major road works needed for inland communities. This is somewhat hampered by the shared funding between different government bodies.

The Australian National Highway network is paid for in part by Federal government, but most money is provided by State government. Local road funding is often a split between Federal, State and Local government, and this absolutely influences development speed and strategy.

The short-term future

I don’t see that, even with attention paid to rail and air-freight alternatives, that there will be any reduction in truck transport, mainly due to the limited number of delivery points. Goods carried by truck can typically be taken directly from A to B. While air and rail will usually still need a truck at the beginning and end of the product's journey, resulting in a lengthier supply chain and additional room for mistakes and broken goods.

The future of interstate transport in Australia seems to be National freeways and motorways and far more trailer trucks.