THE Murray Basin Rail Project (MBRP) could help position Sunraysia’s agriculture sector to lead economic recovery, but one advocate says it is time for the Victorian Government to cough up the cash.
This month, it was announced the MBRP project had missed out on a share in $525.8 million State and Federal Government funding for road and rail projects across the state.
Rail Freight Alliance deputy chair and Mildura councillor Glenn Milne said while the Federal Government was pushing the project, the Victorian Government had broken promises.
He said a rail line was much needed and supported the future of the Sunraysia community.
“The MBRP is probably our most important project in this area,” Mr Milne said.
“It is the most efficient way to get out goods to port, it keeps trucks off the road, you can run very big loads, you are running past the silos, so you can take wheat, almonds, citrus, wine.
“And you can take it in bulk quantities and in very large amounts.
“Our goods are a bit higher-priced, but they are clean, they’re green and we need to make sure if we can get the goods to market on time and maximise our return and profit from those goods, then we will keep our markets.
“But it all depends on very efficient cartage and transport, and rail is probably the best way to do that.
“We need to make sure we keep that wealth in our state.”
Mr Milne said while the project provided an economic boost, it would also increase road safety by keeping roads clear of an unnecessary number of trucks.
He said as growers pinned their hopes on a decent crop this year, there could be more and more trucks on the road, instead of “a couple of trains on a railway line”.
“If we can keep as many trucks off the road as we can — that we don’t need — then it increases safety, it reduces pollution, less risk to cars travelling.
“The bottom line is, the efficiency of running a railway line with one train take out I don’t know how many trucks on a daily basis.
“But we need to make sure we do have the most efficient rail system and transport system as possible because that’s our advantage.”
Mr Milne said there was potential for Sunraysia to increase produce and goods delivery on to the train if it were reliable.
He said the railway line needed to be fixed up to standard as promised, so the community could put as much freight back on it as possible.
“The MBRP not a pie-in-the-sky project either, it is not something country people have just decided it would be good fun to have.
“The project is actually vitally important to our communities and to the finances and economic development of the state.
“It just ticks all the boxes and for our community there is probably nothing more important because it is our future.
“It is our citrus, our table grapes, almonds, wine, wheat.
“Everything we produce here, percentages of it go on the rail now — and more could — and the more efficiently that we can get our goods out of our district and down to the port, then that’s better for us. It really is vital.”
