Inland Rail Project: Senate report gives a stinging assessment

The government-owned Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) has been blasted by the Senate inquiry into the management of Australia’s biggest freight rail project, Inland Rail.

The report provides 26 recommendations to fix failures in consultation, technical modelling and route planning of the 1,700-kilometre rail line connecting Brisbane to Melbourne.

The initial 2015 business case estimated a cost of $4.7 billion has now also ballooned to $14.3b and could exceed $20b, according to the report.

The report also found that community and stakeholder consultation had been poor and recommended ARTC set up regional forums to garner more community support.

“We’ll be making sure that residents know that unless they see real change here, they’re going to have to call for change in the federal government,” Logan Mayor Darren Power said.

Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee chair and WA Labor Senator Glenn Sterle said the Government would likely tuck the committee’s report away on “a dark shelf somewhere”.

“I have no doubt this government is going to try to bury it,”

Read the full article on ABC News.

Read the full Senate inquiry report here.