The WA government has announced it will enter negotiations to reverse the privatisation of the state’s freight rail network.
However, the Nationals WA have labelled the re-election promise “disingenuous” and “unrealistic”.
The freight rail network was sold off by the Richard Court government in 2000 under a 49-year lease, and is currently being operated by Arc Infrastructure.
But the tier-3 lines — which extend through much of the southern half of the state — have been left dormant since 2014, which has forced more trucks on the road to transport goods such as grain.
Speaking on ABC Country Hour, Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said the government would attempt to reverse privatisation to allow trains to operate at full capacity.
“This is the start of the process — it’s not going to be easy I won’t shy away from that,” Ms Saffioti said.
“There wouldn’t be a month going by without either the farming community or a local government raising concerns about it.
“So this is our ability to start addressing those concerns.”
Rita Saffioti says the government will form team to analyse the financial and economic benefit of reversing privatisation. (ABC News: Grace Burmas)
Roads not fit for purpose
As a grain farmer at Bruce Rock, about 240 kilometres east of Perth, Jane Fuchsbichler knows the kind of impact an active freight rail network can have on the industry.
Her love for rail was once reinforced every day as she watched freight trains chug past at the bottom of her farm driveway on the tier-3 rail line.
But in June 2014, she decorated the crossing with balloons and painted signs to thank the train drivers “with a tear” in her eye as the last train passed through before the shutdown.
The rail crossing outside of Jane Fuchsbichler’s farm in June 2014, before the closure. (Supplied: Josh Fuchsbichler)
Ms Fuchsbichler said the announcement about a reversal of network’s privatisation was long overdue.
She said after the rail line shutdown, regional roads had deteriorated and freight trucks had become an issue.
“We’ve got trucks on roads that just aren’t designed for that heavy truck load and [they’re] not wide enough,” she said.
“I’ve had windscreens smashed … [trucks] are there, in your face, all the time.
“When you hear all the money going into new roads around the metro area … you feel like you’re not part of the West Australian economy at all.”
Ms Fuchsbichler has been lobbying the government to get grain back on the rail line for over a decade. (Supplied: Jane Fuchsbichler)
Impact on growers
Ms Fuchsbichler said since the rail network’s closure, grain production had doubled but transporting product continued to be a barrier.
“As it stands now we can produce the grain, we can store the grain … but we can’t get it from A to B,” Ms Fuchsbichler said.
“So when we have a high production, we just find growers are being hit with costs of emergency storage … it’s not getting to port.
“If you’ve got grain that you can’t sell, then that money isn’t coming into the economy so it’s a massive issue.”
The tier-3 rail line, which passes through WA’s Wheatbelt, has been inoperable for about a decade. (Supplied: Josh Fuchsbichler)
Speaking on Nadia Mitsopoulos’s ABC Mornings radio program, WA Farmers president John Hassell said unused lines should be given back to the government rather than being sold back by Arc Infrastructure.
“They’ve had them for 25 years, they’ve shut them down … it’s been to the detriment of many growers in Western Australia,” he said.
“It’s put the cost of freight up by putting it on the road, and reduced competition.”
Shadow Transport Minister Shane Love says the announcement is too little, too late. (ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt: Piper Duffy)
‘It’s a thought bubble’
Nationals WA leader and Shadow Transport Minister Shane Love said the government’s plan was a “thought bubble” that was “announced at the very end of eight years of inaction” from state government.
“[Minister Saffioti] has been completely focused on Metronet and ignored the needs of regional Western Australia,” he said.
Mr Love said rail system regulation required an overhaul.
“There are clearly changes needed to facilitate more freight on rail,” he said.
