Transport ministers praise WA rail freight promise

Western Australia’s long-term target of moving 30 per cent of the state’s freight via rail has taken a huge leap forward with the construction of the new Kenwick Intermodal Freight Terminal, says WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti, who believes the pursuit of further rail freight opportunities can have wide-ranging impacts on the state’s economy and liveability.

The completion of the $25 million Kenwick terminal was announced on Monday, September 2. Construction was partially funded by the federal ($5 million) and state ($5 million) governments, with the bulk of costs being committed by Arc Infrastructure ($15 million).

In a press conference to announce the completion of the facility, Saffioti stated the terminal will help continue to decrease Western Australia’s reliance on road transport.

“Moving trucks off roads [and] putting freight on rail has been a major commitment of ours. In 2016-17, 15 per cent of the freight was going on rail, we’ve increased that to 20 per cent, and this type of intermodal will help increase the amount of freight on rail up to 30 per cent,” Saffioti said.

“We’re doing that through the development of intermodals, and this is a key part of our strategy. Not only does it make sense for the existing Fremantle Port, but it also fits in with our plan for Westport.

“We’ve already seen 107,000 truck movements off our roads since coming into government, and that’s one of the reasons we want to keep moving forward, is to get more trucks off roads and more freight on rail.

“It’s been a significant project to support the Western Australian community. More jobs in the region and, importantly, more trucks off roads. We’ve already achieved our target of a 20 per cent, but we want to now move further.

“This intermodal will support thousands of trucks off our roads and will continue safer and less congested roads.”

The Roe Highway is set to be one of the largest beneficiaries of the increased commitment to rail freight in Western Australia, with the key east-west freight route travelling across a number of highly populated Perth suburbs.

“It’s a key road that carries freight across our suburbs,” Saffioti continued. “That’s why putting more containers onto rail will really reduce congestion and improve safety.

“What we’ve been able to do is stabilise some of the truck movements on Leach Highway, but more generally on Roe Highway, having more trucks on rail will reduce the amount of truck movements. It’s as simple as that.

“We’ll continue to subsidise the containers on the rail to make sure we continually incentivise putting more trucks on rail. And we’re also working at the other end, at Fremantle Port too, how we can simplify that– those movements to make sure it’s easier to lift a container off the ship onto rail rather than onto trucks.”

Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government praised Western Australia’s desire to shift towards more rail freight and labelled the Kenwick project as a “game changer” for freight movement in the state.

“This is a terrific project. It is delivering more freight on rail. We know that WA is really punching above its weight when it comes to getting trucks off our road and freight onto rail, increasing the share of freight that is going by rail here in this state, and that can only be good,” King said.

“Good for people who are driving on local roads – getting those trucks off the roads – but also delivering freight more efficiently across this state and interstate as well.

“This $25 million intermodal project here really is a game changer for the way in which freight moves around, not just in the Port of Fremantle but, of course, will be really critical in the new economic development – the new project of Westport that will be coming to Western Australia over the course of the coming years.

“Getting more freight on rail means less congestion, fewer trucks on our roads, better for road safety, but also better for productivity and also better for our climate, because we know rail is a much more efficient and effective way of moving our freight around this country.”