ONLY two proposals made the cut as high priority projects in the 2016 Australian Infrastructure Plan released by Infrastructure Australia.
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They were a Melbourne airport to the city centre expanded road link and a Perth freight rail link.
The Lower Hunter Freight Corridor made the plan, which is significant, but in the high priority initiatives category. The plan noted it was at the "corridor preservation" and "options assessment" stage, but as the Hunter knows, it's been at that stage for years.
The arguments for a rail line so that freight can bypass Newcastle, and passenger and freight trains can be separated on the congested Fassifern to Newcastle line, are straightforward.
A dedicated freight corridor would allow growth in capacity across the broader rail network, would increase efficiency and reliability for both freight and passenger services, and enhance urban areas by removing freight movements, particularly at the Adamstown and Islington junction level crossings.
It all makes sense, and certainly the NSW Government has supported the freight corridor with lots of funding promises to at least complete detailed planning. But with only $1.59 million spent of the $40 million promised over the past few budgets, it's hard to escape the sense that the government is paying lip service to the freight corridor because the Australian Government has listed it as a priority project.
Certainly Transport for NSW's concerns about the impact of a Lake Macquarie motor sport centre on the freight corridor were not encouraging, after documents to a regional planning panel showed the corridor is not much more than a line on a map for the state's transport authority.
The revelation appears to have mobilised Newcastle City Council, which expressed concern about the "privatisation" of the rail corridor while state and federal governments leave the project in the "high priority/we'll get back to you" category.
When Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a budget with a $100 billion infrastructure spend, many wrote it off as a government on its last gasp. But the Coalition won, and infrastructure spending is now in play. The Hunter just wants to know if this freight corridor stacks up. And if it does, some action.
Issue: 39,218.
