Capacity issues holding up grain freight in Victoria

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Victoria’s State Government has been advised it needs to increase investment in rail to provide enough track capability to efficiently freight grain from silos to port.

The Grain Logistics Taskforce, made up of farmers, grain and rail companies, has made a series of recommendations on how to improve the efficiency and capacity of Victorian grain handling and storage system.

Amongst the 32 recommendations are the standardisation of track gauges and truck weight regulations, increasing train axle loads, and improving train turnaround times.

Minister for Ports, Denis Napthine said, “After a decade of drought conditions and modest yields, last season’s record-breaking grain harvest exposed a number of issues in transporting Victoria’s grain for export.

Victoria generally produces about 5.5 million tonnes of grain per year but last season we saw 7.1 million tonnes harvested.”

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