Agriculture should be a 'central pillar' of any new freight plan, says VFF

In responding to the state government's plan to "refresh" its 2018 freight plan, the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) called for a comprehensive road maintenance plan for Victoria, targeted investment in key bridges, resolution of line conflict between passenger and freight rail services, and completion of the Murray Basin Rail Project.

When it came to rail, the government should provide a program of funding to maintain and improve the network, while advancing the standardisation of Victorian lines.

The government should also outline initiatives to constrain port costs and ensure their competitiveness and "describe a program of regulatory reforms" aimed at facilitating greater use of high productivity freight vehicles (HPFVs).

"Agriculture must be a central pillar of any strategy and plan for freight across Victoria.," Ms Germano said.

"The VFF believes that in the absence of a stand-alone agricultural freight strategy, the refreshed freight strategy should include an explicit section on the needs of the agricultural sector and discussion of how the plan will address these needs.

"The revised plan will be less effective if it is simply seen as a blueprint for more major projects serving the interests of metropolitan Melbourne."

Freight Minister Melissa Horne announced the review in early June, saying consultation has commenced on the revised plan, to be developed in partnership with industry.

It would examine pathways to decarbonise the freight and logistics sector as the government worked towards Victoria's ambitious 2045 net-zero emissions targets.

Ms Germano said the "refreshed" plan should emphasise improving freight and supply chains did not always require spending on "major new signature projects".

"The efficiency of the current road network can be significantly improved through maintenance and upgrades which can improve productivity and reduce the time taken to transport products around the state and to ports," Ms Germano said.

The VFF said a major failing of the 2018 freight plan was the lack of a plan to address road maintenance issues.

As well as improving road pavements, ageing bridges were also impeding the efficient, cost-effective movement of agricultural produce.

Along with the Rail Futures Institute (RFI), the VFF called for further investment in the rail network, to increase axle tonne loading, train speeds, efficiency and to deal with "increasingly common" weather extremes.

In the RFI's submission, written by president John Hearsch, said while Big Build projects were claimed as improving reliability, those projects were the biggest single factor in the poor reliability of rail freight services and had resulted in the loss of such services as the Deniliquin to Melbourne rice train.

The RFI said Victoria did not have a "connected intrastate regional (rail) network but rather a dysfunctional mix of broad and standard gauge lines.

"Unlike the original state-based 'breaks of gauge', the impact is no longer end-to-end, but results from the creation of two independent - but overlapping - networks that are both sub-optimal as a consequence.

"This mix of gauges within Victoria is seriously hampering sustainable rail freight efficiency. "

The RFI, and VFF, urged the government to complete the Murray Basin Rail Project (MBRP), which was only half finished.

"Failure to complete the MBRP to the original plan has resulted in less efficient rail service and an increase of freight on road due to increased costs and transit time for trains from the Merbein line having to travel an extra 129km via Ararat to get to the ports of Geelong or Melbourne - the exact opposite of the intent of the project."

Failure to act to get more freight on rail had simply been a recipe for more "loads on roads" with adverse road safety impacts, higher road maintenance costs, increased air pollution and higher emissions," he said.

"All of these factors need to be addressed in a new Victorian Freight Plan which specifically provides for a substantial increase in the share of freight moved by rail."

The new plan should provide a framework for determining minimum standards for freight network track.

"Such matters as axle loading, freight train speeds, lengths of trains, passing lanes/crossing loops and provision of loading/unloading sidings for prospective rail freight traffic are all relevant matters for the Plan and should be addressed with reference to operational and commercial needs as well as engineering realities," he said.

"In short, maintenance and growth of rail freight in Victoria needs planning, resources and experienced management which is dedicated to these objectives and has sufficient influence to prevent rail freight from being dismissed as the not-very-important part of a passenger dominated rail network."