{"id":54755,"date":"2024-05-28T09:16:09","date_gmt":"2024-05-27T23:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=54755"},"modified":"2024-05-28T09:16:16","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T23:16:16","slug":"more-trucks-on-roads-feared-as-long-promised-freight-hub-in-melbournes-west-put-on-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=54755","title":{"rendered":"More trucks on roads feared as long-promised freight hub in Melbourne\u2019s west put on ice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
A long-promised freight hub for Melbourne\u2019s west has been deferred indefinitely, prompting fears hundreds of trucks will be added to local roads despite years of campaigning from councils, industry and even Premier Jacinta Allan \u2013 who once declared that it must be the \u201cfirst cab off the rank\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The state government told industry earlier this month that the Western Interstate Freight Terminal (WIFT), which was first proposed in 2018 and recommended as an urgent priority since 2021, will be \u201cdeferred until it is needed\u201d. The former Morrison government\u2019s choice of the Beveridge Intermodal Freight Terminal, in Melbourne\u2019s north, will be prioritised instead.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nAn artist\u2019s image of the proposed Beveridge terminal, which would handle goods moved on the Inland Rail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Victoria has already spent $400 million on compensation for landowners in the path of the proposed Outer Metropolitan Ring Road, which it is hoped will one day connect the now-delayed western freight terminal by car and train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The delay is a significant change of plan for the state government, which has for years fought for the Truganina site to be delivered before or at the same time as Beveridge, clashing with the Morrison government over the issue. It is the latest Victorian project to face serious or indefinite delays, with Airport Rail and school upgrades put on hold as the budget grapples with the highest debt-to-revenue ratio in the nation and taxpayers face a $25 million-a-day interest bill by 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The WIFT received $740 million in Commonwealth funding in the budget delivered before the 2022 federal election, compared to $1.62 billion for the Beveridge option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When that funding was announced, Allan, in her former role as transport infrastructure minister, said Melbourne\u2019s west needed the facility immediately and it had to be the \u201cfirst cab off the rank\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Victorian government made it very clear, and has made it very clear on a number of occasions, that our priority for the establishment of an intermodal freight terminal for our city and state is in the western suburbs of Melbourne,\u201d Allan said in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a very good logical reason for this. It\u2019s because the western suburbs of Melbourne is the heart of Australia\u2019s freight and logistics industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the government this month updated a website to confirm the push to deliver Truganina first had been abandoned. It said \u201cthings have changed\u201d since 2021 because the Commonwealth was pushing ahead with the Beveridge site following a review of the Inland Rail project, while private freight projects were also under way to provide \u201csufficient capacity\u201d for container volumes over the medium term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile the WIFT remains a priority for the Victorian government, its delivery will be deferred until when it\u2019s needed,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2018There may be an additional 400-plus trucks daily on our roads.\u2019Sophie Ramsey, LeadWest alliance group chair<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe government will now look at protecting land at Truganina for WIFT. This process may also help unlock land not required for WIFT for industrial development in the short term.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Planning for both hubs has been under way since 2018. Victoria\u2019s freight strategy argues both will be needed to handle long double-stacked trains that will travel the country along the national Inland Rail corridor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That document said Truganina should be developed first and was the best location given it was near 50 per cent of existing interstate freight rail customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LeadWest, an alliance of five councils in Melbourne\u2019s western suburbs, said the project was supported by the supply chain and logistics industry, and it believed it would be the catalyst for enough investment to create 28,000 jobs in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLeadWest is also concerned about the impact on the roads in Melbourne\u2019s west, given there may be an additional 400-plus trucks daily on our roads, including the Western Ring Road that is already at capacity,\u201d group chair and Melton councillor Sophie Ramsey said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peter Anderson, chief executive of the Victorian Transport Association, said he was disappointed by the decision because the western site was closer to the Port of Melbourne and the customers the rail line would serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cContainerised freight goes into warehouses \u2026 Those warehouses are in Truganina and Laverton, where the WIFT is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anderson said he had road safety concerns because Inland Rail would deliver goods to Melbourne\u2019s north quickly, but trucks moving to the west would regularly create kilometres-long queues on key corridors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is going to cost a lot of money to get from Beveridge to Footscray and a lot of money to come back, and it\u2019s going to have to be done 10,000 times a day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesperson for federal Transport Minister Catherine King said the independent review of Inland Rail recommended two terminals in Victoria, but also called for the northern site to be prioritised.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nA train travels past the possible site for a freight terminal proposed by Pacific National in Little River.CREDIT: JASON SOUTH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\u201cThe Albanese government supports this approach and is working with the Victorian government to settle funding and delivery arrangements,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The federal government has committed $61.8 million for planning work around investment in the WIFT and southern section of rail along the proposed Outer Metropolitan Ring Road. The existing $740 million commitment to the project remains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Victorian government spokesperson said the Commonwealth\u2019s prioritisation of Beveridge and private investment meant \u201cthe additional capacity the Western Interstate Freight Terminal (WIFT) would provide is not needed in the short term\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Western Interstate Freight Terminal remains important, but its delivery will be deferred until additional terminal capacity is needed,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Allan government has also extended interstate rail freight operations at South Dynon, which is leased by Pacific National and due to expire by 2031, by another 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesperson for the company did not say whether this decision affected its proposal to deliver its own freight hub at Little River, a private sector alternative that could service the west but has raised environmental concerns<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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