Inland Rail

During July/August, Committee 4 Wagga participated in several events in respect to the economic impacts of Inland Rail for our region.

The first was a Bulk Freight Futures Symposium held in Junee in July.  Bulk Freight Futures was a targeted one day symposium that aims to bring together technicians and industry leaders involved in bulk freight movement in Australia. Key topics addressed included the grain supply chain, movement of bulk liquids, regional bulk freight distribution to markets, and infrastructure and technology changes to keep pace with domestic and international market demand.

Earlier this week Committee 4 Wagga participated in a consultation forum on the long-term economic benefits of Inland Rail.

To better understand the long-term regional benefits of Inland Rail, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development (the Department) has engaged Ernst & Young (EY) to carry out an in-depth study to identify the potential economic opportunities for regional Australia resulting from the operation of Inland Rail.

EY are facilitating a series of consultation forums with government and business representatives to explore, test and refine their emerging research findings, and to further understand region specific factors.

The objectives of the consultation forums are to:

•      discuss the opportunities for businesses associated with Inland Rail and the role of Inland Rail in supporting the long-term economic prosperity of regions

•      seek your views on our emerging research findings in relation to possible changes in business activity and investments in response to Inland Rail.

The consultation forum provides an opportunity for local stakeholders to share their views on the potential prospects for our region stemming from Inland Rail.

Outputs from the consultations will be used to understand the range and scale of possible business activity enlivened by Inland Rail. The estimated/forecasted investments associated with the operation of Inland Rail will form the basis of economic modelling that aims to estimate the economic contribution flowing to regions once Inland Rail is in operation.