Transport body sees value in rail funding

Victorian Transport Association chief executive Peter Anderson said there had been trouble in delivering grain to port, this season because of "the failings of the rail system.

"With the grain harvest coming through, we need to ensure we maintain supply to meet demand," Mr Anderson said.

"Completion of the MBRP will take another $400 million to ensure we have a connection with regional Victoria and the export ports."

He said he hoped funding would be set aside in next month's state budget.

When it came to roads, the south-west of Victoria was an area that needed a lot of attention.

"We have pinch points around Victoria with bridges - just as the Victorian Farmers Federation do, we want bridges done," Mr Anderson said.

Read more: The Victorian Farmers Federation has released its state budget wishlist

The route between Warrnambool and Hamilton was unsuitable for heavy vehicles, because of the poor condition of its bridges

"We can't get trucks through to Melbourne and the rail service isn't adequate, so we would like to see more money spent on intermodal connections," he said.

"We want to see a quicker integration of road and rail."

Investment in upgraded roads, bridges and rail are the big ticket items in the VFF's state budget wishlist.

Calder Highway Improvement Committee chairman David Pollard agreed the Loddon River bridge, at Bridgewater - highlighted by the VFF - was causing issues because of limitations on truck weights.

"The way it's been constructed means there's movement in the bridge, when trucks go across it," he said.

He said the committee would also like to see multiple lanes between Ravenswood and Bridgewater.

The other improvement the committee would like to see was grade separation of the Sunbury train line at Calder Park Drive and increasing the speed limit in that section.

"The capacity of the bridges is limiting the bigger trucks being able to go down the Calder network," he said.

"We can run B-Doubles, but there are restrictions on higher productivity vehicles.

"That means more trucks to get the same result or using an alternate route, and there are not many of those with reasonable roads."

There should be no bottlenecks on the Calder, which was the main route between Melbourne and Mildura.

"Compared to other roads, the Calder surface is pretty good, because the authorities are spending a lot of effort maintaining it

"In saying that there is always room for improvement and we have get some of our minor roads, that feed into the Calder, upgraded as well."

But Rail Futures Institute president John Hearsch said getting standard gauge access from Maryborough to Gheringhap near Geelong was the number one priority.

"The second-order priority is to convert Sea Lake and Manangatang, north of Inglewood, to standard gauge," Mr Hearsch said.

"That's something that needs to be done, but it doesn't have the same urgency as getting standard gauge access, from Maryborough, through Ballarat, down towards Geelong.

'Where it's been left is that every train on the Mildura line, whether it be intermodal or grain, has to take a 120-kilometre diversion, via Ararat, before heading to the two ports.

"We have been left a legacy of something that is very inefficient, and arguably worse than what it was before the MBRP started."

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Rerailing the section between Ararat to Maryborough, to allow for faster travel times, would only save three-quarters of an hour.

"When they do get around to providing standard gauge access, through Ballarat on the more direct route, that Ararat-Maryborough line could almost become a stranded asset," he said.

The line would only be used for the occasional grain movement to Portland.

"Sooner or later, standard gauge access through Ballarat has to be achieved."

He said the government had spent a lot of money re-opening the Ararat to Maryborough line

Promised federal government funding to rerail the section between Ararat and Maryborough was locking in a very inefficient operation.

"They should just go back to the original plan," he said.

"I think the state government doesn't want to know about it any more, they want to draw a line under it and say 'that's it', which is an unfortunate outcome."

Mr Hearsch said the RFI had been advocated for some time for the Portland line to be upgraded, to compete with 23 tonne-axle-loading on the line into Geelong.