Freight corridor through Ballarat could cut emissions, make country roads safer, say rail advocates
ABCDriving along a rural road in north-west Victoria, Brett Hosking cannot help but notice the 10cm drop at the edge of the bitumen. Key points: The Victorian government says standard-gauge freight trains will need to continue taking a 130km detour Advocates say making rail more competitive is necessary to reduce transport emissions and wear and-tear on roads A proposed upgrade of the Ballarat rail corridor has not eventuated The grain farmer from Quambatook said people in rural communities with huge trucks "rattling up their main street" were fully aware of what a "lack of investment in rail" had done to their roads. GrainCorp's corporate affairs manager Jess Simons said increased rail costs, reduced rail reliability, reduced track capacity, and time-sensitive pricing had "resulted in road freight being the preferred method of grain transport to port". "There's no fundamental reason why we can't be running standard gauge freight trains through Ballarat when there's a 40-minute passenger train frequency during the day," he said. "If we're thinking about the carbon emissions from the transport sector, there's a real need to make sure rail freight is competitive with trucking," he said.
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