Murray Basin rail fail brings truck dangers, says Milne

THE Victorian Government has been accused of hypocrisy over its Towards Zero road toll strategy while forcing more heavy vehicles on state roads because of inadequate rail transport infrastructure.

Rail Freight Alliance chair and Mildura councillor Glenn Milne said growers across north west Victoria were among those most impacted by the government’s “hotchpotch” Murray Basin Rail Project.

Cr Milne said unfinished works and hollow promises was costing growers and transport operators throughout the Sunraysia food bowl and forcing more to use road transport to get goods to market on time.

“We’ve got a huge problem with the road toll right now and unless the government acts on their failings over the Murray Basin Rail Project it is going to continue to struggle with the road toll,” Cr Milne said.

“Industry is concerned with the amount of trucks they are now having to put on roads to the point that they fear those roads are going to fall apart in four to five years,” he said.

“We are trying to work with the government but we want it to commit to actually finish what they started and what they’d promised.

“Words are fine, but we want to see some action and we want timelines — we can’t sit around waiting for 20 years.”

Cr Milne said the promised standardisation of rail lines and axle capacity loadings from 19 to 21 tonnes had been, at best, only partially completed.

“You’ve got to get the whole system capable of running at 80km/h, but in some places it’s still only 15km/h,” he said.

“The government was going to remove 20,000 truck trips to the ports of Geelong, Melbourne and Portland per annum, but now there’s about 40,000 more roads trips and they are further clogging up cities.

“What they proposed and what was put on paper was fantastic and that’s all that anyone is asking for — to give us what was promised.

“We need it and all the communities need it — it’s not just about Mildura, it’s right along that railway line through the centre of Victoria.”

Cr Milne said rail transport in its current state would not be able to cope with a bumper growing season.

“You need to maximise the amount of freight you can get on rail — it needs to be delivered at a reasonable speed and on time,” he said.

“But you also have to keep the costs down because the idea is to get the trucks off the road and that’s not being achieved.

“It hasn’t become more efficient — it’s more expensive and less reliable and there has been a major impact on transport companies that are using trains.

“It’s vital to a major part of Victoria — it’s a big percentage of dryland farming and irrigated farming and getting goods to market efficiently is essential.”