{"id":368685,"date":"2026-02-14T11:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T01:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=368685"},"modified":"2026-02-14T12:41:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T02:41:49","slug":"work-about-to-finally-commence-on-55m-freight-hub-at-ballarat-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=368685","title":{"rendered":"Work about to finally commence on $55m freight hub at Ballarat West"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Council consideration of a permanent Ring Road closure is set to begin soon, as construction starts on Ballarat’s long-awaited intermodal freight hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ballarat West Employment Zone<\/a> (BWEZ) is a 400-hectare industrial hub in Mitchell Park, Victoria, designed for logistics, manufacturing, and commercial growth, with over $70 million invested. It features developed industrial land, the Acacia residential estate, and a future freight hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The long awaited BWEZ Intermodal Terminal<\/a> has been promised for almost 3 years meaning it is already 3 years behind schedule. It is not known who the rail operator is likely to be although an open terminal would be a better choice providing more competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major grain handler has been operating from the freight hub for more than 2 years without rail access having to move large tonnages of grain to the port using trucks rather tan efficient rail use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Possible rail operators could be Pacific National, Qube or SSR. Personally I would like to see SSR get further work over and above grain transport in Victoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The $23.5 million Intermodal Freight Hub is being delivered by the Victorian and Australian Governments \u2013 with the Victorian Government contributing $14.4 million and the Australian Government $9.1 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strangely knowing the intermodal and grain rail terminal would see daily trains why did V\/line remove the second rail line between Wendouree and Ballarat that could have been used for freight?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One can always rely on V\/line to remove important infrastructure making it harder to do busiuness on rail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Possible rail operators could be Pacific National, Qube or SSR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":363954,"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":[47,186],"tags":[4239,11031,993,8],"class_list":["post-368685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-news","category-v-line","tag-ballarat","tag-bwez","tag-melbourne","tag-victoria"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t