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Instead of putting more massive trucks on our roads, we need to invest in our rail network

In recent years, the <a href="https://transport.vic.gov.au/ports-and-freight/freight-victoria">Victoria</a> and <a href="https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/projects/strategy/nsw-freight-and-ports-plan">New South Wales</a> governments have both unveiled strategies to move more freight across the country by rail and ease the increasing pressure of goods moving through the two largest container ports. The reality is, however, the numbers of containers coming and going by rail to the Port of Melbourne and Sydney’s Port Botany have been going backwards. <h2>More massive trucks on Victoria’s highways</h2> The Port of Melbourne moves more containers than any other port in Australia. In 2020-21, <a href="https://www.portofmelbourne.com/about-us/trade-statistics/quarterly-trade-reports/">3.3 million</a> containers passed through the port, a <a href="https://www.portofmelbourne.com/about-us/trade-statistics/historical-trade-data/">30% increase from ten years ago</a>. Over this time, the percentage of containers moving by rail has fallen, reaching a <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Container%20stevedoring%20monitoring%20report%202020-21.pdf">low of 6.1% in 2020-21</a>. This has meant the number of trucks going to and from the Port of Melbourne has significantly increased. This has been assisted by improvements to the state’s roads and bridges. But the Victoria government also in mid-2021 <a href="https://transport.vic.gov.au/about/transport-news/news-archive/guiding-road-freight">approved</a> large “A Double” trucks being able to access the Port of Melbourne. These trucks can carry two 12-metre containers and be up to 36 metres long – much longer than the standard semitrailer at 19 metres. Large numbers of trucks accessing the ports not only add to road construction and maintenance bills, they also make our roads less safe and more congested, and add to noise and air pollution. The <a href="https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/994-epc-lc/inquiry-into-air-pollution">recently released report</a> into the health effects of air pollution in Victoria notes the city of Maribyrnong has some of Australia’s highest levels of diesel pollution. This is mostly due to the number of trucks accessing the Port of Melbourne each day. The report also notes the transport sector is accountable for <a href="https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/SCEP/Air_Pollution/Report/LCEPC_59-04_Health_impacts_air_pollution_Vic_Report.pdf">20% of Victoria’s total greenhouse gas emissions</a>. In 2018, Victoria introduced a new <a href="https://transport.vic.gov.au/getting-around/roads/heavy-vehicles">freight plan</a> that included initiatives to move more goods from the port by rail. One of these projects was the Port Rail Shuttle Network, a $28 million investment to connect the freight terminal in South Dandenong to the rail network. This is now underway. Increasing the amount of freight moving by rail will not only make our roads safer and reduce maintenance costs, it makes environmental sense – <a href="https://www.railfutures.org.au/2017/07/submission-to-inquiry-into-national-freight-and-supply-chain-priorities">rail freight produces one-third the emissions of road freight</a>. However, rail freight in Victoria is crippled by two different track gauges and tracks with too many temporary and permanent speed restrictions. Without greater investment to improve the rail system, it remains a less feasible option than moving freight on massive trucks on our roads. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437972/original/file-20211216-19-ljbvpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> A freight train passing through a level crossing in Cootamundra, NSW. Shutterstock <h2>Sydney’s situation is not much better</h2> A recent NSW <a href="https://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/our-work/reports/rail-freight-and-greater-sydney">auditor-general report</a> said the volume of freight passing through Greater Sydney is expected to increase by 48% by 2036. In 2020-21, <a href="https://www.nswports.com.au/nsw-ports-ceo-update-july-2021">2.7 million containers</a> moved through Port Botany. The NSW government had planned to increase the number of containers moving by rail from the port to <a href="https://www.nswports.com.au/resources-filtered/trade-reports">28% by 2021</a>. However, the auditor-general report said this effort would fall short. Just 16% is currently carried by rail. This means more trucks on the roads in NSW, as well. The NSW government has also recently <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/congestion-compounded-as-more-trucks-added-to-sydney-roads-20201101-p56aix.html">given permission</a> for “A Double” trucks to access Port Botany. The auditor-general report made recommendations on how NSW Transport could improve the operation of the state’s rail network to allow for more rail freight. It noted, for example, 54 trucks could be replaced by one 600-metre-long port shuttle freight train. <h2>Rail moving less intercity freight</h2> The rail network between Australia’s two largest cities is outdated and under-utilised. In fact, the proportion of freight moving between Melbourne and Sydney on rail has <a href="https://pacificnational.com.au/australias-major-highway-now-a-conveyor-belt-for-big-trucks/">fallen to about 1% today</a>. In 1970, it was <a href="https://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/2000/is_017">about 40%</a>. This is, in part, due to the total <a href="https://roads-waterways.transport.nsw.gov.au/about/environment/protecting-heritage/hume-highway-duplication/index.html">reconstruction</a> of the Hume Highway from a basic two-lane road to a modern dual carriageway, completed in 2013. There are now over <a href="https://roads-waterways.transport.nsw.gov.au/about/corporate-publications/statistics/traffic-volumes/aadt-map/index.html#/?z=6&id=GNDSTC&hv=1">20 million tonnes of freight</a> moved each year on the Hume Highway, with over 3,800 trucks on the road each day (and night at Gundagai). The result is more road trauma, higher maintenance bills and pressure for further road upgrades. Plus more emissions. The Sydney-Melbourne rail track, meanwhile, has been left with severe speed weight restrictions and a “steam age” alignment characterised by tight curves. It is also over 60 kms longer than it needs to be. <h2>From a national perspective</h2> Getting more freight on rail is not helped by hidden government subsidies to heavy truck operations, which in my estimations exceed <a href="https://theconversation.com/distance-based-road-charges-will-improve-traffic-and-if-done-right-wont-slow-australias-switch-to-electric-cars-150290">$2 billion per year</a>. It is also made harder by the current <a href="https://www.freightaustralia.gov.au/">National Freight and Supply Chain strategy</a>, which puts much more emphasis on increasing truck productivity with ever larger trucks. Instead, much more attention is needed to improving the efficiency and competitiveness of rail freight.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172491/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/philip-laird-3503">Philip Laird</a>, Honorary Principal Fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-wollongong-711">University of Wollongong</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/instead-of-putting-more-massive-trucks-on-our-roads-we-need-to-invest-in-our-rail-network-172491">original article</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Domestic Travel

Outrageous Wi-Fi network name forces plane’s emergency landing

A plane with 100 passengers on board was forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger gave a Wi-Fi network a very inappropriate name. The Turkish Airlines flight from Nairobi, Kenya to Istanbul, Turkey was diverted after the Wi-Fi name “bomb on board” caused concern among passengers. The airline said the plane landed at the Khartoum airport in Sudan and the flight was resumed after a security check of all passengers and the aircraft was carried out. “Experts said the Wi-Fi network in question was created on board. No irregularities were seen after security procedures were carried out, and passengers were brought back on the plane once boarding restarted,” Turkish Airlines said in a statement. The airline did not say whether authorities identified the passenger who had named the Wi-Fi network, however, all 100 passengers were brought back on the flight. Unfortunately, inappropriate Wi-Fi names are becoming an occurrence on flights. In May, a flight from Mexico to London was cancelled after a Wi-Fi network named “Jihadist Cell London 1” was spotted on board. The passenger who noticed the name immediately told the crew and an investigation was launched. Last year, a Qantas flight that was about to take off from Melbourne to Perth was delayed for two hours after a passenger noticed a Wi-Fi network named “Mobile Detonation Device”. In 2014, a passenger on an American Airlines flight at Los Angeles airport noticed a Wi-Fi network called “Al-Quida Free Terror Network”. The flight was delayed as authorities investigated the incident and then it was further delayed for even longer because the crew needed to be replaced as their hours were up.

International Travel

Do you really need a VPN for your smartphone?

Virtual private networks (known in geek speak as VPNs) were first used to provide a secure connection for remote workers to corporate networks. Now they're often used to access geo-blocked streaming services such as the US version of Netflix. A VPN provides an encrypted conduit to allow users to securely send/receive data. Recently, they've being marketed toward smartphone users, with the main aim to protect people when using public wi-fi rather than geo-blocking. But do you really need one? Well, that depends on how much you value your privacy and access to free internet. Most public wi-fi networks are not encrypted which means others on the same network can eavesdrop on your web browsing. Using the Wireshark utility at a hotel I recently stayed at, I was able to view the online activities of fellow guests also connected to the hotel's wi-fi. Symantec has just released its VPN app, called Norton WiFi Privacy, which is available for both iOS and Android. It costs $49.95 a year. According to Symantec's Australasian territory manager, Mark Gorrie, the app has advantages over offerings from lesser known competitors. "Norton WiFi Privacy does not impose data limits or advertisements on users as a trade-off for services." The app detects when your smartphone/tablet connects to an unsecured network, encrypting data and diverting it through a secure connection. Anyone snooping should only see a stream of gibberish. However, the app adds a small amount of delay into the mix. This was because I was connected to a range of Symantec VPN servers located around the world. So is it worth the $49.95 a year? If you use a mobile device for sensitive correspondence over public wi-fi a lot, it is probably a good idea.

Technology

Company demonstrates the shocking danger of public Wi-Fi networks

There’s nothing we love more than finding a free, open Wi-Fi hotspot when we’re waiting around at the airport or shopping centre, but one company has proven just how dangerous these public networks can be. Purple, a Manchester-based Wi-Fi hotspot company, ran a little experiment this week, including a “Community Service Clause” in its terms of service agreement, binding 22,000 people into a signed contract agreeing to complete 1,000 of menial labour simply to gain access to the “free” network. The chores unwittingly agreed to by the Wi-Fi users included: <ul> <li>Removing animal waste from local parks</li> <li>Giving hugs to stray cats and dogs</li> <li>Manually clearing sewer blockages</li> <li>Cleaning portable toilets at local events</li> <li>Removing chewing gum from the streets</li> <li>Painting snail shells – just to make them a little prettier!</li> </ul> It’s not entirely clear if the company would be legally allowed to enforce the clause, but Purple explained it wouldn’t try – their aim was only to encourage people to read the terms of service before logging in to open Wi-Fi networks. After all, you never know what you might have just signed up to. There was even a prize on offer for anyone who spotted the sneaky added clause – but only one person (0.000045 per cent of the total number of users) managed to do it. “Wi-Fi users need to read terms when they sign up to access a network,” Purple CEO Gavin Wheeldon <a rel="noopener" href="https://purple.ai/purple-community-service/" target="_blank">said in a statement</a>. “What are they agreeing to, how much data are they sharing, and what license are they giving to providers? Our experiment shows it’s all too easy to tick a box and consent to something unfair.”

Travel Tips

How your social network helps your health

Kids are generally friends with everyone. I’m a kid – you’re a kid – let’s play. As the teenage years approach, they can get more selective with who they want to spend time with. They find their niche and have a handful of close friends. Adulthood and parent life can see the friendship groups expand due to new networks at work and school. Then for older people, the social group can narrow again as work connections fall away post retirement, kids move out, and close friends move on. But that doesn’t mean that having just a handful of close friends is a bad thing. In fact, <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/113/3/578.abstract">new research</a> suggests that even though we know we need connection for better health, the old adage of quality over quantity is actually true when it comes to your social network. And this small group of friends in older life can actually improve our health. Using a sizeable sample of 15,000 participants, the study at the University of North Carolina looked at a variety of age groups to determine both the quantity (friends, partners and acquaintances) and the quality of their friendships. The statistics for quality were based on the person’s support and stress they experienced in these relationships. Between four and 15 years later they then checked in with the participants to see how they were tracking. From here they were able to see patterns, which had affected on the participant’s health. For instance having a strong social circle helped to reduce incidence of inflammation, blood pressure, and even obesity for younger and older adults. This has potential use for schools, doctors and community groups to ensure that society has adequate social support, which will in turn reduce their risk of ill health. For the middle aged, it was less about having lots of friends and more about the quality of those relationships. This make sense in that this is the time of life when we tend to be focused on family and the home, so the support we seek tends to come from a few close friends rather than a very large social group. Depending where you are in your life, focusing on your current relationships or going out to find new ones can be a great investment in your health. Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/relationships/2016/12/what-to-do-when-friendships-fade/">What to do when friendships fade</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/relationships/2016/10/tips-for-better-conversations/">The 3-step formula for better conversations</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/relationships/2016/09/how-to-reconnect-with-an-old-friend/">How to reconnect with an old friend</a>

Relationships

Think twice before using public wifi networks

When you’re out and about, coming across free wifi is a godsend. But beware, before jumping onto the next free wifi network, you need to read this. The dangers of using public wifi With more and more places offering free wifi, including tourist hotspots, it’s common to find a number of wifi network options appear on your device. These public connections are often unsecured or have shared passwords. By logging on to the network, you’re taking a risk as hackers often target public networks. Hackers just need to be near you to steal your data. They log on to the same network and start stealing your information using software that is easily downloaded from the internet. They can see what you’re doing online, steal your login details, your password and yes, even your identity. Another way that hackers can access your data is to create a public network that you think you can trust, such as a McDonald’s or the Apple Store. What you need to do to protect yourself Refrain for typing your user name or passwords, or any other sensitive information, when using a public wifi network. Don’t pay for things when on public wifi either. As all security experts advise, make sure you don’t have a password that’s easy to crack. Even if hackers don’t find out your password, a weak password can be easily discovered with sophisticated technology. Passwords with a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols are considered strong passwords. Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/technology/2016/08/what-to-do-when-you-lose-a-phone/">What to do when you lose a phone</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/technology/2016/08/tips-to-speed-up-a-slow-ipad/">6 tips to speed up a slow iPad</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/technology/2016/08/how-to-secure-your-wi-fi-network-from-hackers/">How to secure your Wi-Fi network from hackers</a>

News

The perfect number of friends to maintain a social network

Each of us has a limit in terms of how many people we can keep up with in our social network. Thanks to a study from the University of Sydney it’s been determined that 132 is the maximum number of people that you can be connected to. This doesn’t mean that you have to have 132 close friends – far from it. In fact for the majority of us, the research shows that the network can be managed by having just four or five or more close ties. Essentially each of us has a limit in brain capacity, which is why we tend to focus on a smaller number of close friends. We literally don’t have the space to keep track of vast numbers of relationships. The lead author of the study, Dr Michael Harré, states, "When you have got this network of relationships, there are a lot of things going on in that network. It takes a lot of brain power to actually socially navigate these large networks and there's an upper limit to our ability to do that." Dr Harré and his colleague Professor Mikhail Prokopenko have worked out how that specific limit is reached. Known as Dunbar's Number, it shows that there are a minimum number of relationships that each person needs to manage in order for the larger cooperative groups to form and function as a unit. "To connect together a group of 132 individuals we estimate the average number of links each individual has to be able to maintain is between four and five," they said. The model found that within each group, smaller groups of around five, 15 and 45 people form. This could be, for instance, a group of neighbours, a book club group, a volunteer group in the area, and even a group of colleagues. Someone in a group of five needs only to maintain one or two strong links within the group to keep it cohesive; someone in a group of 15 needs two or three links; and within a group of 45 they need three or four links. This goes back to hunter-gatherer times when individuals found that they needed a larger group to work together in order to hunt prey and manage resources. But a person in the group needed only know a couple of others in order to make it work. Dr Harré explains, "They had these free-forming groups which kept the power away from individuals and retained the power with the group. All you need to do is like two or three people in that group and that's adequate for you to go off and hunt with them," he said. In modern day, this works best if you at least understand how everyone in the group is related to each other. Being able to join new networks opens up your chances of connecting with some great people that you could potentially form life-long friendships with. Have you put yourself out there and joined a new friendship network? We would love to hear your story in the comments. Related links: <a href="/lifestyle/relationships/2016/08/key-flirting-tips/">10 key flirting tips</a> <a href="/lifestyle/relationships/2016/08/6-important-reasons-why-we-need-good-friends/">6 important reasons why we need good friends</a> <a href="/lifestyle/relationships/2016/07/tips-to-feel-connected-to-others/">9 tips to help you feel connected to others</a>

Relationships

How to secure your Wi-Fi network from hackers

An insecure Wi-Fi network can result in more than just slower internet and a burnt-through data cap. You could lose access yourself or even let private information get into the wrong hands. As more devices in our home become Wi-Fi connected - from your home security to your lightbulbs - making sure your Wi-Fi is secure is more necessary than ever. Here's how. Change passwords This seems obvious, but stick with me. While you might have set a pretty good password for your Wi-Fi network when you set it up – what with capital letters and numbers and everything - the password to log in to your actual router might still be the default. This means anyone already on your network can easily change the actual Wi-Fi password themselves. (There's also the possibility that your Wi-Fi password is still the one written on the back of your router. You should definitely change that.) To change either of these passwords, you'll want to log in to your router. (Your router is that box with flicking lights that gives you internet. It probably has some antennas.) Open a web browser (Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer - whatever you use) on a device that's connected to your Wi-Fi and type "192.168.0.1". This should open a login page. (If it doesn't try "192.168.1.1".) Logging in here, disturbingly, should be pretty easy. Check your router's make and model here or on Google. It's likely "admin" and "admin" or "admin" and "password". Once you've logged in you should see your router's settings page. Each one of these is different, but changing the password for both the router and the Wi-Fi network itself should be relatively easy. If not, Google is your friend. Remember to go long and to add numbers. If you're worried about forgetting it, try a long sentence of song lyrics along with a few numbers - easy to remember, extremely hard for a computer to crack. Change the name of your network If your Wi-Fi network already has some dumb joke name, skip this section. If it's called NETGEAR 5345 or something like that, time to get one of those dumb joke names. You can do this, again, by logging into your router. Look for an option to change the "SSID". Why? Because for potential hackers, knowing the type of router or connection you have makes the job a lot easier. Getting rid of the default name makes this a bit harder for them. Encrypt your network Your router is likely already encrypted with WAP encryption, which is fairly standard, but is also quite easy to crack. Luckily, most newer routers should offer "WPA2" encryption - don't worry about what it means - which is much stronger. However, it also will lock out any device from prior to 2006, so if you've got some ancient laptop somewhere, be wary. To do this, you're going to want to - once again - log in to your router. (See why it's so important to make sure your router is password protected too?) Encryption options should be under security settings. Restrict your Wi-Fi to certain devices This is something of a nuclear option, and can be extremely inconvenient. Basically, instead of allowing any device with the right password onto your network, it will restrict the network to only allow access for devices on a list. To do this, assemble a list of all the MAC addresses of every device you own, then input them into their router. MAC addresses are basically unique IDs for every device that has Wi-Fi - Google how to find them on each of your smartphones, laptops, tablets, and consoles. Once you've got that list, log back in to your router and into the security settings again. Have you ever taken measures to secure your Wi-Fi? Do you think you’re going to take them now? Share your thoughts in the comments. First appeared on <a href="http://Stuff.co.nz" target="_blank">Stuff.co.nz</a>. Related links: <a href="/entertainment/technology/2016/06/14-tricks-that-will-change-how-you-use-your-ipad/">14 tricks that will change how you use your iPad</a> <a href="/entertainment/technology/2016/06/how-to-keep-your-facebook-messages-private/">How to keep your Facebook messages private</a> <a href="/entertainment/technology/2016/05/hints-for-using-gmail/">5 hints for using Gmail</a>

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Instead of putting more massive trucks on our roads, we need to invest in our rail network

Outrageous Wi-Fi network name forces plane’s emergency landing

Do you really need a VPN for your smartphone?

Company demonstrates the shocking danger of public Wi-Fi networks

How your social network helps your health

Think twice before using public wifi networks

The perfect number of friends to maintain a social network

How to secure your Wi-Fi network from hackers

News

Shop

Catalogues

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Entertainment

Property

Information

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Instead of putting more massive trucks on our roads, we need to invest in our rail network

Outrageous Wi-Fi network name forces plane’s emergency landing

Do you really need a VPN for your smartphone?

Company demonstrates the shocking danger of public Wi-Fi networks

How your social network helps your health

Think twice before using public wifi networks

The perfect number of friends to maintain a social network

How to secure your Wi-Fi network from hackers

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