A NEW national road train notice will begin in eastern states of Australia to make improvements to cross-border travel and reduce requirements for access permits.
Assistant minister for road safety and freight transport Scott Buchholz said the 2020 National Class 2 Road Train Notice will commence on Thursday in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria, where road trains carry more than 15bn tonnes-km of freight every year.
“Since the original national road train notice was introduced, we’ve seen significant growth in the freight task, as well as the productivity and safety benefits of harmonised networks,” Mr Buchholz said.
“I’m grateful to all the road authorities for taking the time to work with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator to upgrade the notice and update the national road train networks, and I’m delighted that this has been agreed to by all road managers.”
The 2020 National Class 2 Road Train Notice replaces the 2015 National Class 2 Road Train Notice.
NHVR chief regulatory policy and standards officer Don Hogben said the NHVR had been working closely with state and local government road managers to develop the notice, which consolidates road train combination requirements, facilitates cross-border access and reduces permit requirements for operators.
“For the first time, Victoria is part of the national road train notice, granting access to 36.5m A-doubles on a road network previously only accessible by permit,” Mr Hogben said.
“South Australia has enabled access under the Notice to 30m A-doubles, 36.5m B-triples and AB-triples, as well as rigid trucks towing two dog trailers – significantly reducing the number of permits required by operators of these combinations.
“Also, a number of eligible road trains can now access a single, Type 2 road train network, while previous access was only for specific Type 2 combinations. This aligns with existing arrangements in Queensland,” he said.
The notice will also provide standard definitions and categorisation of road train configurations and improve the overall consistency of access and vehicle conditions.
Benefits of 2020 National Road Train Notice:
– Expanded road train network access to include:
. a new Victorian road network for 36.5m A-doubles;
. access for the first time (under notice) in South Australia for 30m A-doubles, 36.5m B-triples and AB-triples, and rigid trucks towing two dog trailers;
. consolidated access to a number of Type 2 road trains on a single Type 2 road train network.
– Introduce simplified and more nationally consistent conditions for road trains, supporting more seamless cross-border access.
