The Premier of the Australian state of Victoria, John Brumby, has announced a $38.7 million  dollar package aimed at providing the state with a sustainable rail freight industry that can support Victoria’s farmers and the agricultural sector.

In the wake of the funding, five of the state’s major rail lines are to receive upgrades, having been identified in a review as needing attention.  The upgrades are aimed at achieving improved speed limits and more efficiency to at least seventy percent of Victoria’s rail freight network.

Commenting on the importance of the rail freight sector to the state agricultural industries, Premier Brumby in comments made in announcing the funding said that “Victoria’s rail freight network carries 80 per cent of the state’s export grain, transporting it from regional areas to the ports of Geelong, Melbourne and Portland.”

The premier concluded his comments by saying that his government had “introduced a combination of short-term measures such as the support package which is now being complemented by longer term projects of track upgrades and maintenance to ensure our rail freight network is competitive and sustainable.”

Upgrades as a result of the funding package will commence in 2009, with grain company’s Graincorp, AWB and ABB committing up to eight trains to service Victoria’s grain freight. Additionally, Graincorp is setting out to invest in upgrading silos located along operating rail lines in Victoria.

Source: State Government of Victoria

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 8:41 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.