The first $30 million of the $300 million promised for the Inland Rail Link by the government at the last Federal election has been allocated for expenditure in 2013-14.

 

The proposed $4.7 billion, 1700 km railway would link Melbourne and Brisbane  via Albury, Wagga Wagga, Parkes, Narromine, Moree and Toowoomba, taking seven hours off the existing route.  Currently, the only north-south railway in eastern Australia runs form Melbourne to Albury,  then to Sydney,  and along the coast to Brisbane.

 

The initial funding will be used to undertake detailed planning for the route and land resumption, to begin late in 2014.

 

The allocation follows the release last August of the report by the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) of a study commissioned by the government  of the optimum alignment  and the economic feasibility and benefits of a new standard guage inland railway between Melbourne and Brisbane.

 

The study found that the Inland Rail Link had the potential to :

  • Reduce the time it takes to move freight from Melbourne to Brisbane by rail by seven hours;
  • Improve other rail performance aspects including reliability, availability and route distance for freight in the far western sub-corridor;
  • Increase the capacity of freight rail paths between the two cities (removing five northbound Melbourne–Brisbane services from the coastal railway by 2030 and around 28 by 2040), which could subsequently increase service performance on the coastal route for freight and passengers.

 

Key findings of the demand analysis include:

  • By 2050, an inland railway and the existing coastal railway are estimated to carry 74% of intercapital road and rail freight in the Melbourne– Brisbane corridor (by tonnes). This is an increase from the current 30% rail share in the corridor. Without Inland Rail, the rail mode share is forecast to be 67% in 2050;
  • Nearly all of the 74% rail share of freight in the corridor is estimated to be carried by Inland Rail by 2050. This amounts to around 73% of total road and rail freight that is carried on Inland Rail;
  • The inland railway was found to induce or divert some freight.  This comprised substantial quantities of coal freight over short distances; grain from other rail routes and from road; regional freight and freight from outside the inland railway corridor.

 

The proposed route would use existing track from Melbourne to Narromine (with new route from Illabo to Stockinbingal), the new route to Narrabri, upgraded track to North Star, new track and upgrading existing narrow gauge track to Kagaru and the existing corridor to Acacia Ridge. The total length of new track is 600 km, and 430 km of existing track would be upgraded.

 

However, the report found that the proposal was not financially viable on a commercial basis  at present, and recommended delaying the project for 10 – 20 years, re-examining it between 2015 and 2020.

 

The ARTC’s report is at http://www.artc.com.au/