Inland Rail project scaled back to Parkes

The Inland Rail project has been scaled back. The Federal Labor Government decided last week to shelve major parts of the infrastructure program, drawing strong criticism across regional Australia. This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

Catherine King made the announcement on Wednesday, May 6. She is the federal Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Minister. Politicians, councils, business groups, industry representatives, agricultural organisations and other stakeholders quickly denounced the decision.

The decision came among several high-value commitments for Australia’s rail freight network. As part of that package, the minister said the government would “consolidate” Inland Rail. It would do so by completing construction in Parkes by the end of 2027. The rail corridor north of Parkes is to be “preserved”. What that means remains unknown.

Minister King said the completed line between Parkes and Beveridge, Victoria, would allow double-stacked freight trains to move via Parkes. Those trains would run between Melbourne and Perth.

Inland Rail project costs and the Schott report

The decision followed the April 2023 review of Inland Rail. Dr Kerry Schott led that review. It found that the cost of delivering the project had “blown-out” to $31.4 billion.

In 2020, Inland Rail was estimated to cost $16.4 billion. It was also expected to be completed in 2026–27. That estimate later increased to a projected $31.4bn, with completion expected in 2030–31.

The minister also referred to an independent report. It found that delivering the full Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail project would now cost more than $45 billion.

“This is more than three times the current budget allocation and this work also confirmed that the project cannot be delivered until at least 2036,” her statement continued.

Completed sections and work still unresolved

The latest available information from Inland Rail shows that the 1600km project has 12 sections. It has been completed from Victoria north to Narromine. The Narrabri-to-North-Star Phase 1 section is also fully operational.

Meanwhile, the Narromine-to-Narrabri section had been planned as Inland Rail’s longest section of track. In late February 2023, the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) received approval from the NSW Minister for Planning to progress that section. The approval was subject to conditions and Federal Government approval.

That section would include about 306km of new rail corridor and track. Once completed, it would connect freight trains with the Narrabri-to-North-Star section and the completed Parkes-to-Narromine section.

Local Government Areas and business impact

The federal decision particularly affects NSW and Queensland. Multiple Local Government Areas (LGAs) and businesses along the proposed Melbourne to Brisbane route had already invested heavily in activity connected with the “nation-building project”.

Narromine Shire is among the NSW LGAs affected. The council had supported land development south of the town for Inland Rail’s Materials Distribution Centre at Narwonah. Adjacent land had also been identified for a major industrial estate with direct access to the Inland Rail network.

Narromine Shire Council said in a statement that it was deeply disappointed by reports that the Inland Rail project had been shelved.

Don’t miss…Amtrak lawsuit against Metro North centers on train access

“This decision will impact the future of the Narromine Region. Inland Rail was expected to deliver investment, jobs and economic growth.

“Narromine Shire Council, local businesses and the community have supported the project for many years, with the expectation it would be completed. Changing direction now creates uncertainty and undermines confidence in major infrastructure commitments,” the statement indicated.

Narromine Shire mayor Cr Ewen Jones said regional communities needed clear answers.

“We need direction on the future of this project. Council and the business community have invested a lot of time, money and trust into Inland Rail and our region deserves to know exactly what comes next,” he said.

Dubbo Regional Council mayor Cr Josh Black said the local effect would mostly be felt by independent wholesalers whose services would no longer be needed.

“It’s more suppliers who will be impacted, rather than people from Dubbo doing the work,” Cr Black said.

“The contractors who provide the materials that would have gone into the project will be hit hardest locally. I’m not sure whether the work has started further north, but I understand they’ve already bought land corridors,” he added.

Cr Black said ending the project at Parkes reflected broader city-focused views among politicians from all sides of parliament.

“It speaks more to the raw deal that that regional Australia gets, more to the symptom that all the money goes to the capital cities, and we get the scraps,” Cr Black observed.

“That view goes for pretty much for all governments in Australia,” he added.

Narrabri mayor Cr Darrell Tiemens, whose region is among those seriously affected by the cancellation of further works, expressed similar concerns.

“I think all the mayors up and down the line are concerned about it. I would very much agree that here in Australia rural areas are overshadowed by our bigger cities like Sydney and Canberra,” Cr Tiemens said.

“It’s a wasted opportunity to create a real nation-building project, one that would have facilitated transport of our food and fibre up and down the east coast so much more efficiently, while removing heavy trucks from our roads,” he added.

Cr Tiemens said that, with much of the land for the rail corridor already purchased, he believed a future government would almost certainly return to the work.

“I think it’s absolutely true, people keep talking about improving our productivity, well, the two things we are world leaders in, are mineral exports, and agriculture,” Cr Tiemens said.

“The transport issues aren’t going to go away, nor will the need for us to freight our agriculture more efficiently in the future. I believe it will be finished at some future date, but at what cost?” he concluded.

Source: www.dubbophotonews.com.au

News on railway transport, industry, and railway technologies from Railway Supply that you might have missed: