PBS the NSW Experience
PBS the NSW Experience
Prepared 09/03/2010
Steve Warrell
Regional Manager
South West
Current picture in NSW
 There are over 35 PBS vehicles now operating
 These are innovative vehicles specifically designed to deliver high
productivity
 They include
• Super B Double combinations (30m) in Sydney Ports
• Extendable trailers for moving steel between mills
• Quad axle vehicles moving fully loaded containers of export meat from
abattoir to rail head
• Floatliner used to carry glass sheets
Administering PBS
To facilitate PBS RTA has
 Set up a single contact point to coordinate all access applications
 Reviewed the process for engaging relevant expert input as needed in
the access approval process to improve its efficiency
 Prepared indicative maps for PBS access at Level 2 and above
 Required IAP for Level 2 and above to provide route compliance
assurance
NSW Indicative PBS Networks
NSW road network
• More than 180,000 km of roads in NSW
•
State roads 14,800 km
•
National Hwy 3,100 km
•
Regional roads
18,475 km
•
Local roads
143,100 km
•
Unincorporated
2,950 km
State assets valued at more than $80 billion
Implementation issues
 Streamlining the overall process and reducing its costs for participants
 PBS standards don’t fully address access issues
Access Issues
Access issues
Route assessment is still required for PBS vehicles as
 Axle configurations and masses can vary markedly
 Bridge stock varies significantly in capacity
 PBS standards do not fully address infrastructure issues
Mass issues – pavement wear
• The Vertical Loading Standard is an interim standard at present
• The intention of PBS was that the PBS fleet would not lead to an increase
in pavement wear
• There was not a national agreement on how to operationalise this
principle.
• The Standard leaves it to jurisdictions to determine how they wish to
deal with ‘excessive pavement wear’
• NSW has followed the approach allowed for in the Interim Pavement
Vertical Loading Standard of only allowing excessive pavement wear
through Incremental Pricing trials
Resolving PBS Access Issues
• NSW is playing a leading role in an Austroads project seeking to develop
a final Vertical Loading Standard
• NSW has established an Incremental Pricing Trial in Dubbo (through
PBS) enabling containers fully loaded with export meat to run between an
abattoir and private rail head.
• This involves payment of a service fee for the additional pavement wear
associated with this transport.
Access Issues – Bridge Impacts
Access issues – bridge impacts
The capacity of bridges to accommodate PBS vehicles is another major
issue
• NSW is faced with a wide range of bridges constructed over the past
century – many built before the current vehicles were conceived off.
• The potentially unique geometry of PBS vehicles requires their individual
assessment for different bridge types
• Bridge formulae only provide a partial solution as they don’t apply in all
situations
• To maximise potential access on RTA bridges an approach has been
developed that examines bridges individually based on the ‘worst
allowable case”
• Many bridges are not owned by RTA
Conclusion
• NSW has made a major commitment to implement PBS
• Initial uptake has been encouraging
• NSW sees PBS as providing the means to identify the best vehicles to
handle key freight sectors in NSW.
• There are unresolved access issues that need to be resolved properly.
• Failure to resolve these issues is likely to restrict the access for PBS