WA seeks $50m for grain train

WestNet Rail is seeking about $200m over four years from the federal and state governments to improve Western Australia’s rail infrastructure.
“We can work with $50m in the first year as it’s in line with our plans,” WestNet chief executive Paul Larsen said.
“We’d be looking at upgrading about 300 km in year one of the four-year project at around $150,000 a km.”
Mr Larsen said the Albany zone, which is about 600 km of track, was the main “priority” for WestNet.
WestNet planned to replace some of the timber sleepers on the Albany track with steel ones, he said.
Last month WestNet launched the “grain on rail” initiative to create government and industry awareness of the urgency needed to fix WA’s inadequate grain rail infrastructure and to ensure its sustainability.
The campaign stressed that rail rather than road, was the more economical, environmentally-friendly and the safest way of transporting $4.5bn of grain exports to the ports.
The future of grain transportation in Western Australia rests with government funding, Mr Larsen said.
“If we get a clear message from the government that it will not invest, then the future for grain on rail is not a good one.”
WestNet Rail did not believe the $200m for the upgrades should come out of its pocket but if it did, it would more than likely pass such costs on to rail users.
This was a move that Mr Larsen believed would boost the appeal of roads as an alternative form of transport to rail. 
Western Australia shipped a record 1.54m tonnes of grain in March, exceeding that of all the other Australian states combined.
About 65% of grain is currently transported by rail and 35% by road.
Should the grain rail network fail, the governments would need to cough up about $350m for road upgrades and maintenance costs which is almost $100m more than if they upgraded the grain rail network, according to  the grain on rail campaign.