For agricultural industries, rail lines to port are an essential infrastructure that over the last few years have been treated by state governments as something of a burden rather than an essential part of our economy.
Last year the rail operators were threatening not to carry grain at all as it interferes with their main business of hauling coal- even passenger trains have to give way to King Coal, which is not a good look for whoever it is runs the rail lines these days.
Anyway it appears that at last the Government is doing something about it- perhaps it was the threat of literally thousands of extra trucks on the highways clogging the Hunter Valley towns that made them realise that sometimes governments have to look outside the Newcastle-Sydney-Wollongong focus that they seem to think NSW stands for.
From the ABC:
Most grain rail freight lines should stay open: report
A federal report into grain rail freight in New South Wales has recommended most lines remain open.
The first of 18 recommendations is that conditions on nine rail
freight lines be stabilised at a level that meets the minimum
requirements of industry.
That includes the North Star to Moree, Walgett to Burren Junction and Merrywinebourne to Narrabri lines.
The report says the State Government should pick up the tab for the
upgrades but advises reviewing access charges along those nine lines
when the work is finished.
The type of co-funding agreement reached to keep the Weemelah Line
open is suggested for the Boree Creek to The Rock and the Cowra to
Demondrille lines, but if an agreement cannot be reached the advice is
that those lines should close.
The report also advises identifying and developing a network of roads for grain transport.
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