Today I visited Broken Hill to confirm the unprecedented $565 million
investment the Rudd Labor Government is making in the rail
infrastructure of Far Western NSW.
This investment will not only
greatly improve the capacity and reliability of the interstate rail
network; it will deliver real jobs and inject new money into communities
across the region.
The new funding will allow the Australian
Rail Track Corporation to:
- Re-rail the lines between
Whyalla and Broken Hill and between Parkes and Broken Hill, an upgrade
which will allow both lines to be used by heavier trains.
This
$312 million project will support 275 jobs and take approximately 25
months to complete.
- Replace the existing old wooden
sleepers on the line between Parkes and Broken Hill with one million
new concrete sleepers, greatly improving its capacity as well as
reducing transit times and the need for temporary speed restrictions
during summer.
This $253 million project will support up
to 370 jobs and take approximately 13 months to complete.
Work on
both projects is expected to get underway later this year.
All
up, the Rudd Labor Government's third Budget (2010-11) injected an
additional $1 billion into the ARTC, the government-owned entity
responsible for managing the nation's interstate rail network, bringing
our total investment in this vital piece of infrastructure to $3.4
billion over six years.
Compared to our predecessors, this is
twice as much in half the time - yet another example of this Government
using the dividends of today's prosperity to build an even stronger and
more prosperous Australia for the future.
