HAVING recently highlighted poor planning by this government (letter, April 10) and the speed at which trains can move people and freight, we should now consider safety.
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Road traffic is limited to 80 kilometres per hour in tunnels, and dangerous goods are banned: combustible fuel like petrol.
Fuel used to be delivered by train to the regions (including through tunnels) until a previous government removed the 1.2 cents per litre subsidy.
Former Premier O'Farrell called for the return of the subsidy following two horrifying road accidents, involving petrol tankers, which killed five people in one week.
"We are determined to ensure that we get as much freight back onto rail as possible," he said at the time.
Even with a short tunnel, trucks carrying petrol and other dangerous goods will still have to go through Blackheath and Mount Victoria.
There are, however, rumours that the government will change the law and permit petrol tankers in tunnels. There are already moves afoot to allow wider trucks on NSW roads.
What if the government then increases the speed limit in road tunnels to 100 kilometres per hour?
Can this be allowed? Can we permit this significant reduction in safety? Who benefits? We know who will lose.
While tunnel safety has improved over the years, there is still risk involved.
If there is a long road tunnel, the risk will be much, much higher and so will the cost of mitigating risk.
Petrol and other dangerous goods should be back on rail, not to mention most other freight.
