"Australia is very open to international companies"

The 2018 Australian Leaders Program featured four experts in the infrastructure and transport sector. As part of its proactive communications strategy, the Council Foundation regularly publishes interviews with its participants.

Simon is Director of Strategy and Corporate Development at ARTC. ARTC is a state-owned company under the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Finance. It manages over 8,500 kilometers of the national rail network, including the Hunter Valley mining corridor, one of the world's most extensive heavy goods transport networks. Simon is responsible for corporate planning and infrastructure development strategy, as well as the corporate and commercial development of the network, and regulatory and access policies.

- ARTC specializes in rail freight. This sector hasn't seen significant development in Spain, where road transport is predominant. What is the situation in Australia?
Rail freight is more developed in Australia than in Spain, but we also have different markets. For example, we have many mining products and other products that don't require the extensive rail infrastructure found in Spain.

But we also face similar challenges: increased rail use on some lines leads to congestion; we need to figure out how to combine freight and passenger trains on the same network, how to bring more trains to the ports...

The reasons are the same as for the Port of Barcelona: more rail lines reduce road traffic and are more environmentally friendly... People are happier when there are fewer trucks on the road... it's the same situation we face in Australia.

- What successful measures from Australia could be applied in Spain and vice versa?
Spain and Australia are similar cases. In the Australian context, we're not talking about high-speed trains: the country's demographic distribution isn't ideal for high-speed rail. But many regional train services in Spain are superior to those found in Australia.

We have the same type of dispersed population, small towns and cities that want access to faster and better-quality rail services than those they're used to in Australia. That's closer to being implemented in Australia. The traffic control system used in Spain and how interoperability is achieved is also something that should be examined in Australia.

Regarding freight transport, Australia has longer and more efficient trains. In some areas, it is crucial to separate passenger and freight trains, so freight trains have dedicated infrastructure. In this respect, Spain could learn from Australia in terms of efficiency and cost reduction.

- A study by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works indicates that "passenger and freight rail transport are markets with even opposing requirements." Is the same true in Australia? How can both be developed without interfering with each other?

We have numerous rail corridors dedicated solely to passengers or freight. For example, in Sydney, there is a line that runs along the same corridor as the metro, but with different electrification and which does not connect to the passenger line. This allows us to utilize a corridor that was already built for an exclusive freight line.

That is one solution. The other is to improve traffic control technologies and planning. We try to have freight trains with similar characteristics to passenger trains so they can share the same tracks. Then it's a matter of building some extra infrastructure so freight trains can bypass stations while passenger trains are stopped.

- Several Spanish companies are developing infrastructure in Australia. What is your opinion of them?

I think Australia is very open to foreign companies. It's true there have been one or two bad experiences, but that also happens with local companies.

The Australian market is small, and if four, five, or six large projects come up in a quarter, considering the bidding and contracting rules, local companies can't handle them all.

So it's important to have foreign companies competing for these projects. And specifically, if they include drilling, tunneling, and sections that run through mountainous areas, I think there are quite a few similarities with the infrastructure that Spanish companies have built in their own country.

- Which part of this Leaders Program have you found most interesting?

For us Australians, business is entirely focused on Australia. We're too focused on the country, and it's not easy to go out and explore other things; it requires a significant time investment.

Being able to participate in a program like this, with its organization, all the meetings arranged in advance, and such a packed agenda... We know we're going to make the most of our five days here, meeting with numerous companies...

The main thing for me is to learn about what's happening in the rest of the world, see what we can learn, establish relationships with Spanish companies... but also to understand how the railway infrastructure works in Spain, its similarities to the Australian system, and the role the government plays in all of this... For all these reasons, I consider it to have been an excellent program.

Check out the summary of activities for the Leaders Program 2018