Plan puts freight hub back on track

TEN years since it was first announced the State and Federal government have put an intermodal freight hub in Ballarat back on the agenda.

The hub will be located at the Ballarat West Employment Zone, or BWEZ, industrial precinct near Mitchell Park and function as a base for road, rail and air delivery.

State Minister for Ports and Freight, Melissa Horne, visited the site last Friday to announce the reinvigorated development and said it’ll be huge for the region’s freight transport capabilities.

“This is so important to be able to move freight much more efficiently around our network,” she said.

“When this is up and running, it’ll effectively be able to take 24,000 containers off our roads and onto rails.

“It will create jobs but it will also too mean that farmers and our primary producers save so much money by being able to move that freight onto a rail network.”

The project was first announced in 2013 by the Federal Government at a cost of more than $9 million with the State Government since contributing an additional $14.4 million.

Construction is expected to begin next year, taking up at least six hectares of BWEZ land and featuring three rail sidings capable of holding freight trains up to 600 metres long.

The terminal is also expected to house up to 300,000 tonnes of grain per year for BWEZ-located businesses to use.

Member for Ballarat and Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Catherine King, said the hub will reduce the flow of trucks in the area.

“This is an incredibly important part of the BWEZ tenancy and to actually see early works started here is a real testament to the Victorian State Government,” she said.

“It will mean less trucks on our road, less heavier vehicles on our roads and very much part of ensuring our transport task is doing its heavy lifting when it comes to the net zero task.”

An expression of interest is set to be open soon seeking an operator of the terminal.