A portion of the former railway line to Moulamein in NSW is being restored to service a grain facility a few kilometers from Barnes Junction (where it deviates from the currently active line to Deniliquin).
K160 visited Barnes Junction on the afternoon of the 31st May 2024 to view some of the progress of the re-sleepering works.
Barnes once had a railway station which has long been demolished.
[Copyright: Goldfish ]
A timeline for completion is unknown.
[Copyright: Paul Bech]
This work has been a long time coming considering over 500,000 tonnes of grain is stored on the line in the first 50 kms of the junction. The local councils in the area have been working for years too have trains returned to remove the need for over 100,000 truck movements from terminals on the line to the grain export terminals in Melbourne and Geelong. It is extraordinary this has not been completed a decade ago and highlights how rail freight is not taken seriously and policy and policy implementation is designed to favour the road freight industry.
There is also a significantly upgrade grain receiving and storage facility at Caldwell, NSW which would benefit from rail access and reduce the number of truck movements across the boarder into Victoria.
The largest grain storage system on the line is located at Burraboi, NSW and is a significant location for grain. This site belongs to Moulamein Grain Co-operative Ltd a major player in the area. This storage area is mainly rice.
Reopening is possible with the removal of the rail infrastructure. Victoria is one of the only states who have cannibalised their rail network with large scale removal preventing important businesses from accessing cheaper and environmentally friendly transport solutions. Being a line in NSW perhaps this is the reason why it had not yet been removed.
Source: With K160 Photography
A positive step forward for grain growers however the bulk of the grain is further down the branch.
The line should be reopened to the two larger grain silos on the branch.
Sadly this is not the first time V/Line have disconnected railway lines making it impossible for operators and customers to use rail. V/Line do not like trains and prefer buses to passenger trains and make it near impossible for freight trains to run in Victoria.