rail

Time is right for rail link says operator
April 18, 2005 - 10:08AM

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There has never been a better time to consider building a $4 billion direct rail link between Melbourne and Brisbane, rail operator Pacific National says.

Stephen O'Donnell, chief executive of Pacific National, which is co-owned by Patrick Corporation, said the proposed route would take six years to build and cost about $4 billion.

Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson is expected to announce plans today to fund a feasibility study into a freight rail line between Victoria and Queensland.

"For such a big project what we need is what I call a bankable study," Mr O'Donnell told ABC radio.

"But we believe from the work we've done there is a good case to invest in this rail link."

Mr O'Donnell said it would take about 12 months to complete the feasibility study and to have the confidence that this was the right thing.

"And then after that you're probably talking about a five year investment, construction period, and overall we believe a total capital investment of about $4 billion and that would be in rolling stock, that would be in terminals and that would be in the rail link line itself," he said.

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Advertisement"When you look at the map, you look at the freight opportunity, you look at the current method of getting freight between Melbourne and Brisbane, you really reach a conclusion that if there is ever a time to do this, this is now about the right time to start considering it seriously."

Mr O'Donnell said a renaissance was occurring in rail with the realisation of congestion problems caused by trucks, high fuel costs and road accidents.

"On a level playing field, rail is in fact about 30 per cent cheaper over long haul compared with rail," he said.

Mr O'Donnell said the project had never been achieved before because of its huge scale.

"We'll be going through the state of Victoria, the state of NSW, the state of Queensland," he said.

"It's only in the last three years that Pacific National has formed which is now a private rail operator.

"So you've got several ingredients at this point in time to really look at this seriously."