NORTH-WEST Victoria will be the big winners from a proposed intermodal freight hub terminal at Ballarat only when the Murray Basin Rail Project is complete, according to the head of the Rail Freight Alliance.
The Victorian Government has called for expressions of interest from freight hub operators to develop and operate the Ballarat terminal on a state-owned greenfield site.
However, Mildura councillor and chair of the Rail Freight Alliance Glenn Milne on Sunday said it would be of little benefit for the region’s food producers until the Victorian Government committed to completing the standardisation of rail.
“With my rail freight hat on it’s an excellent outcome for Ballarat and for rail; with my Mildura Rural City Council hat on, we need to be able to link in to Ballarat and we can’t do that at the moment,” Cr Milne said.
“The more intermodal hubs there are in major centres the better for rail freight and the more freight that’s carried on rail the better for everyone including Mildura,” he said.
“Any cut down on transport costs is a win for people sending fruit to market, whether it be grain, citrus, grapes or whatever, but the more freight that goes on rail the more rolling stock, the more options, the more operators and the better chance of a lower price for people from this area.”
Cr Milne said rail freight currently by-passes Ballarat, travelling through Ararat to Geelong and into Melbourne and it was time for the State Government to “pull its weight”.
“The Federal Government is ready to go, but they need the costings, the business case and the comfort to know that the State Government can actually handle delivering the project properly, because at this point they haven’t,” he said.
“There’s so much more work to do and we want the whole Murray Basin Rail Project finished.
“The Murrayville line needs to come up to the same speed as the rest of the line, the Sea Lake line needs to be done, the Manangatang line needs to be done – standardised and up to speed.
“It needs to be at a sensible, modern speed and up to the task of carrying freight for a long time and it needs to be maintained long-term and the state has to deliver that.”
Cr Milne said the Federal Government had committed to the Murray Basin Rail Project “out of the goodness of their heart” and the State Government had fallen well short of its commitment.
“We’ve got to remember that it’s V/Line – Victoria’s rail system,” he said.
“The (Federal) Coalition has been very generous, but the State Government is a disgrace as far as rail is concerned.
“They talk about climate change and carbon emissions yet don’t put into action the most economical form of heavy transport that we’ve got and there seems to be no emphasis on getting that up and running.”
Cr Milne said Seaway Intermodal (formerly Wakefield Transport Group and Ironhorse Intermodal) at Merbein had been operating “the very best they can with very poor infrastructure”.
“You have got to differentiate between what they’ve got to work with and their own systems,” he said.
“They are good operators, it’s just that they haven’t been given the tools by the State Government to maximise their ability and that’s what you need.
“They have worked under extreme pressure and they have really got their backs to the wall.”
