A message from the Mayor - Freight Rail priority
Published on 05 October 2015
The return of a passenger train for Mildura is once again in the news as we approach local government elections next year and possibly a Federal election soon. There’s been much said and written on this issue in the past months, if not years, and much of it has been misinterpreted, misquoted and just mischievous, particularly in the comments directed at Mildura Rural City Council.
Let me state this again - Mildura Rural City Council sets its advocacy priorities as a Council, not as individuals.
To quote directly from my column of 24 August 2015:
Back when we first started our term as Councillors, all newly elected Councillors came together and worked through some of the major projects the community were calling for. We looked at the issues facing us, discussed, debated and then decided as a group, what our priorities would be for our term.
During this time, we all had an opportunity to put forward ideas for discussion and to put our cases for the projects we saw as most important.
We, as a group not as individuals, came up with our list of priorities.
The priorities we decided to lobby for during our term, specifically take into account community concerns, economic factors and the overall benefit to the community as a whole. The current priorities are the upgrade of the actual rail line so as to provide for significantly faster turn-around time for freight trains into port; the upgrade of the Mildura Airport runway and the Benetook Truck Bypass.
There are other less pressing priorities and projects and while they are not the primary focus of the Council, they are still important in the longer term. Passenger rail included.
Our Council, with the support of other Councils and stakeholders along the rail corridor, led a delegation to the previous State Government which resulted in the beginning of the process to see the line upgraded and standardised. This project is now supported by the current State Government.
We have a commitment for over $200 million but still require in excess of $200 million support from the Federal Government to complete the upgrade. While the final timing of the project is yet to be announced, it could be several years before we see any work on the ground and only then, once the line is completely upgraded, will it be capable of passenger travel.
Even at that point, conservative figures from several years ago indicate hundreds of millions more would be required to see the passenger rail project realised.
A possible answer in the short to medium term could be to look at other affordable travel options for those on pensions, other than the existing bus/train services. For example, we may look at the possibility of airfare concessions for our pensioners. I have had a number of Ministers from both sides of Parliament raise this option and this is something Council could pursue, given the capability of any rail travel is possibly many years away.
It is important Council considers both long and short term priorities and subsidised air travel might just fit as a short term priority.
Council isn’t giving up on the return of a passenger train to our region. We’re just taking it one step at a time.
Cr Glenn Milne
Mayor