{"id":272711,"date":"2025-08-25T12:17:47","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T02:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=272711"},"modified":"2025-08-25T12:17:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T02:17:47","slug":"how-a-quiet-rail-closure-could-swamp-western-suburbs-with-trucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=272711","title":{"rendered":"How a quiet rail closure could swamp western suburbs with trucks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A plan to shut a key freight train route in Melbourne\u2019s west to accommodate additional passenger services and airport rail<\/a> is set to push thousands of tonnes of goods bound for the Port of Melbourne onto trucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move is expected to worsen road congestion and pollution in the western suburbs, and has prompted crisis talks between the freight industry and state government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impending removal of the freight \u201ccrossover\u201d at Sunshine has also jeopardised the growth of Victoria\u2019s grain export industry. Grain handler CHS Broadbent warned that its planned rail link to a new $30 million distribution hub in Ballarat might no longer be viable if trains were forced to travel an extra 47 kilometres via Geelong.<\/p>\n\n\n

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All freight rail from Ballarat and Geelong will have to pass through a single section of track at Newport (pictured).CREDIT: JOE ARMAO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Freight industry operators have told the Allan government that shutting the Sunshine route to the Port of Melbourne undermined its goal of increasing the portion of freight moved on trains as part of its net zero climate policy. There were warnings Victorian roads<\/a> would be swamped by a threefold increase in truck trips to the Port of Melbourne, Australia\u2019s busiest port, over the next 25 years, even before the closure of the Sunshine route was revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sunshine crossover is a track junction built 15 years ago as part of the Regional Rail Link project. It connects broad-gauge trains from Ballarat to dedicated freight tracks at Tottenham Yard and onwards to the Port of Melbourne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some freight operators were blindsided when the state government told them in February the junction would be removed as part of the $4 billion Sunshine Superhub upgrade to simplify the tracks in preparation for passenger train services to Melbourne Airport and the extension of the Metro network to Melton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the removal of the crossover, trains from Ballarat and north-west Victoria will have to travel an extra 47 kilometres via Geelong and Werribee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All freight trains from Victoria\u2019s west and north-west, as well as ARTC services to Perth, will be squeezed onto a single corridor between Geelong and Melbourne via Werribee. That includes a section of single track at Newport station, leaving the network vulnerable to bottlenecks and being paralysed during a derailment or maintenance work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industry players say many freight train services will be unviable because of the slower journeys and higher operating costs, while also raising concerns that the loss of network capacity will restrict future rail freight growth and contribute to growing road freight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truck traffic is one of the biggest concerns residents have about liveability in Melbourne\u2019s booming west. Over coming months The Age <\/em>is increasing its focus on the western suburbs <\/a>with a special series examining the positives and challenges the region faces. In October, our reporters will moderate a West of Melbourne Economic Development Alliance\u2019s (WoMEDA)<\/a> summit to discuss a vision for the western suburbs\u2019 success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grain handler CHS Broadbent has told the Allan government it will not proceed with a planned rail connection to its freight hub at the government\u2019s $55 million Ballarat West employment zone unless a way to mitigate the track closure is found, according to two sources familiar with the issue who requested anonymity to discuss confidential matters.<\/p>\n\n\n

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CHS Broadbent says a rail link to its grain terminal at the government-backed Ballarat West employment zone may no longer be viable. CREDIT:\u00a0DEVELOPMENT VICTORIA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

CHS Broadbent has already spent close to $30 million building an intermodal hub at the site over the past decade, predicated on the direct rail link to the Port of Melbourne. There are plans to unlock export opportunities for Victorian farmers currently limited by how much grain can be moved by road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Federal Government funding was made available for the Ballarat Terminal but not a single piece of new track has been laid for the project now into its 3rd year.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The government was spruiking a direct freight route between Ballarat and the Port of Melbourne as recently as three years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late July, rail freight giant Pacific National pleaded with Freight Minister Melissa Horne and Transport Infrastructure Minister Gabrielle Williams to find ways to mitigate the impact of the closure and \u201censure critical freight volumes remain on rail\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf these critical rail crossovers are removed, every month, six of Pacific National\u2019s 12 trains, each carrying 1000 tonnes of dairy products, would be unable to run,\u201d the company said in the letter to the ministers, which\u00a0The Age\u00a0<\/em>has seen. \u201cThese six cancelled services would be replaced by 120 return B-Double trucks on Melbourne\u2019s road network.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qube, another major freight rail operator, has warned that the closure will \u201cincrease transit times, costs and operational risks [and] also create a significant barrier to attracting new customers to rail\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt a time when we are trying to encourage greater volumes of freight to shift from road to rail, consistent with the Victorian government\u2019s own objectives, the current proposal will effectively incentivise the reverse,\u201d a Qube spokesperson said. \u201cThat will mean higher costs for regional producers and more congestion on the road network.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Port of Melbourne has encouraged customers to lobby the government about the changes through the consultation process for the Sunshine Superhub, according to correspondence seen by\u00a0The Age<\/em>. Freight trains on the route mostly move agricultural produce. In the future, they were intended to be used by the Murray Basin\u2019s nascent mineral sands industry.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHS Broadbent declined to comment on the future of its investment at the Ballarat West employment zone but said it was aware of the \u201ccomplex issues\u201d around the Sunshine works. \u201cWe have been in ongoing discussions with government in recent months, and we\u2019re hopeful of a positive outcome,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May, the Department of Transport and Planning hired Deloitte to consult the freight industry about the impact of removing the Sunshine crossovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Deloitte briefing pack for that consultation seen by The Age<\/em> acknowledges the removal would have a \u201cmaterial impact\u201d on freight services because of the extra travel time and loss of network capacity, and extra fuel, access fee and staffing costs for operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rail network downgrade could also prompt \u201cfreight operators to shift some volume to road transport\u201d and lead to \u201cincreased congestion and emissions which does not support the Sate\u2019s NetZero targets\u201d, the confidential briefing says.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Port of Melbourne expects truck traffic to increase threefold over the next 25 years. CREDIT: PAUL ROVERE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A spokesperson for the Allan government said the Sunshine crossovers needed to be removed to enable more passenger trains, including to the airport and Melton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is simply a lie. The crossovers can exist between the lines and only used for freight which mainly runs overnight. They lie and lie and lie this government.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are establishing a dedicated rail freight working group on this issue to bring industry, operators and government together to find practical outcomes to address this impact,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labor had invested more than $470 million in the regional rail freight network since 2020, the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Port of Melbourne has predicted the number of trucks visiting the port every day could rise from 11,000 to 34,000 by 2050, even if it succeeds in moving more freight onto rail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But efforts to boost rail freight have so far been fruitless. The 20-year, $183 million Port Rail Shuttle project has yet to move a single container.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And is not even close to being ready.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There have been warnings about trucks on local roads in the west after the government pushed back the timeline of the proposed Western Interstate Freight Terminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project was meant to link into Inland Rail near the majority of Melbourne\u2019s industrial customers, but a terminal at Beveridge in Melbourne\u2019s north was prioritised by the Commonwealth for funding<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This prompted a warning that freight in Beveridge will have to travel by truck to areas such as Truganina, where the majority of customers who would use Inland Rail are based.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for the Port of Melbourne said the port was looking forward to working with the state government and the freight industry on potential solutions to the Sunshine closure. Pacific National declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the age<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But efforts to boost rail freight have so far been fruitless. The 20-year, $183 million Port Rail Shuttle project has yet to move a single container.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":64140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17733,47],"tags":[993,11593,8],"class_list":["post-272711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marl","category-rail-news","tag-melbourne","tag-sunshine-railway-station","tag-victoria"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=272711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272715,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272711\/revisions\/272715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/64140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=272711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=272711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=272711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}