Roads should be one of the big winners from a planned federal upgrade of the Maroona-Portland freight rail line, with one stakeholder saying it is a "game changer".
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The budget allocated $150 million to upgrading the 173 kilometre line: train speeds are currently limited to 40 kilometres an hour.
Rail Futures Institute president John Hearsch said it was estimated the funding should allow for full track restoration, including concrete sleepers.
That would mean an increase from 19 to 21 Tonne Axle Load (TAL) at 80km/h, or 23 TAL at 65km/h.
Port of Portland chief executive Greg Burgoyne said the upgrade to the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) line would see the region connected to rail freight services across Australia, drive investment and had the potential to deliver cost savings.
"The opportunity this provides for the region is quite profound," Mr Burgoyne said. "This is an absolute game-changer.
"It opens up new markets for the region, which is good for investors, particularly in the minerals sands sector but also the grain trade."
Mr Burgoyne said the rail line upgrade would drastically reduce the cost per tonne to transport goods, as a result of efficiencies in the supply chain.
The business case for the upgrade was refreshed in 2022, to provide more "contemporary" data, which assisted in getting the project "across the line," he said.
A renewed federal and state emphasis on emissions reductions targets, encouraged by switching freight from road to rail, had also helped in pushing the project forward, he said.
"There is a reduction in road trauma, as a result of less trucks on roads, and there is a reduction in the road maintenance task, for the same reasons," he said.
Mr Burgoyne said he expected work to start on the upgrade early in the new financial year, with a completion date of July 2025.
The port would also carry out infrastructure upgrades, particularly putting down new rail tracks, to ease movement of cargoes onto the wharf, he said.
The potential for increased pulse exports, including faba beans, to the Indian subcontinent through Portland was also on the horizon, he said.
"The prospect of railing them down here will assist in the growth of that trade," he said.
Wimmera grain and pulse grower Ryan Milgate, Minyip, said Portland had been "quite busy" because of the large harvests in recent years, but much of the product had been transported by road.
He hoped the upgrade would see mineral sands from mines currently being developed in the Horsham area be transported by rail.
"The last thing we want to see is mineral sands trucks running up and down the Henty Highway, 24/7," he said.
"There are lot of pulses going out of Portland now and even if you could get 20 per cent of the exports on rail, that would be a major improvement," Mr Milgate said.
Glenelg shire mayor Karen Stephens said the upgrade was a great win for those who had battled for it for many years.
"The issue was first raised in the early-2000s and council has been a tireless advocate for it, both locally and through the Rail Freight Alliance (RFA), of which it has been a prominent member," Cr Stephens said.
SouthWest Victoria Alliance chair Ben Blain said the track connected the western half of Victoria to the national rail freight system and to the deep-sea Port of Portland, which was vital for the region's export trade.
"We hope that the $150 million upgrade will be sufficient to fully re-sleeper the whole line so that the current 40km/h speed limit can be restored to 80 km/h and cut the six-hour rail journey to and from Portland in half," Cr Blain said.
Horsham Rural City Council mayor Robyn Gulline said the commitment to fix the line was "very good news" for the Wimmera.
Speeds made freight rail inefficient, when compared to B-doubles, she said.
Cr Gulline said restoring the line was crucial for the Wimmera in several ways.
"Here in the Wimmera, we have an intermodal freight terminal that links us with Melbourne and Geelong, regaining our rail link with Portland, Victoria's only naturally deep-water port, would make Horsham and the Wimmera even more enticing for industries to invest in," she said.
"So many trucks currently travel right through the heart of Horsham, reducing the amenity of our city placing costly strain on our key regional roads such as the Henty Highway.
Southern Grampians shire council mayor David Robertson said the council had worked tirelessly behind the scenes to advocate for funding for upgrade.
The upgrade was featured in the council's current Community Investment Plan.
"We know our communities have been impacted by 24 hour a day truck movements of B-doubles or bigger which has posed a multitude of challenges for the maintenance of those roads," Cr Robertson said.
