The Federal government has announced it will help fund the upgrading of Victoria’s Murray Basin rail freight network, as part of a $565 million transport spending package.
The government announced it would be putting $220 million into the rail upgrade and another $345m in new money, for the state’s rural and regional roads.
Transport and Infrastructure minister Darren Chester said the package would change lives in regional Victoria.
“Our $345m Rural and Regional Highways package will focus on projects that deliver safety and productivity benefits,” Mr Chester said.
“The Australian Government will use this money to fund safety upgrades and duplications; widen roads, build new bridges and install overtaking lanes where they are need most.”
Nationals Mallee MP Andrew Broad said the package would better link communities and help improve the movement of freight both on road and rail.
“The commitment for the Murray Basin rail project will go toward the upgrade of around 1000 kilometres of freight rail, providing an economical option for Victoria’s primary producers to send goods to port,” Mr Broad said.
Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) President Peter Tuohey said farmers were grateful to see a total of $565 million pumped into Victoria’s rural supply-chain infrastructure.
“The VFF has campaigned for decades for freight rail upgrades, especially in Victoria’s north west,” Mr Touhey said.
The federal funding of $220m matches the State Government’s commitment towards upgrading and standardising north-west Murray Basin rail freight lines and pours desperately needed new money into rural and regional roads.
“As it stands we still have a mix of broad and standard (narrower) gauge rail freight lines in Victoria that creates inefficiencies that frustrate our ability to quickly deliver grain to our ports; in contrast most of the rest of the eastern seaboard uses standard gauge lines,” Mr Tuohey said.
“Standardising these lines and lifting their capacity to carry heavier trains, means we can haul more grain, more efficiently and at a lower cost. The rail commitment helps us create a truly national rail network where trains can cross state borders.”
VFF Grains Group president Brett Hosking said the rail commitment from both state and federal politicians was a landmark investment that would deliver the supply chain efficiencies that would keep Victorian grain growers globally competitive.
“This project will deliver significant reductions in supply chain costs for growers, protect and make safer our rural roads by reducing the number of trucks travelling along them and make for a more competitive grain market resulting in greater farm gate returns for growers,” Mr Hosking said.
“Today’s announcement is great news for growers in the north of the state as they anxiously await the start of the 2016 growing season.
“About a third of growers’ costs of production go directly into supply chain and delivery costs, so the rail investment ultimately means more efficient delivery of grain and more money in growers’ pockets.”
Preliminary work has already begun on the project, with the laying of new sleepers to some sections, and this further commitment of funds is expected to see the project in full swing in the second half of this year.
Victorian Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford recently said that an estimated 30,000 of the total 100,000 new sleepers between Maryborough and Mildura have already been installed.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews told a VFF drought forum in Wycheproof, the rail upgrade “made sense.
“The Murray Basin freight rail project will get 20,000 trucks off the road, just like that,” Mr Andrews told the forum.
“It just makes sense, they are the ones, not all, but they are the ones doing damage to road network – it’s a huge boost.”
