Grain producers claim Toowoomba rail loops win - ABC Online

By Sam Burgess and Cassie Hough

Posted May 17, 2013 09:44:03

Farming lobby group AgForce says the building of two new rail loops on the Toowoomba Range on southern Queensland's Darling Downs makes sense.

The Queensland Government will spend up to $50 million to build the loops, which will allow up to 20 additional train paths per week for farmers to get crops off road and onto rail.

AgForce grains president Wayne Newton says it is a big win for grain producers.

"It's good to see the Government being prepared just to spend a little bit of money to get a lot more efficiency out of the system," he said.

"The scale of things - I mean $50 million for a few passing loops isn't a lot of money to spend compared to, for instance, the amount of money they're spending repairing the Warrego Highway at this time."

Meanwhile, the federal Member for Groom, Ian Macfarlane, says a future Coalition government will build the second range crossing, despite the prospect of inheriting a large budget deficit.

In his budget reply speech last night, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott pledged funding towards a number of road and rail projects across the country but did not specifically mention the Toowoomba bypass.

Mr Macfarlane says the crossing, estimated to cost about $1 billion, is still on the table.

"I can assure the people of Toowoomba that the Abbott government if we are elected in September will build the range crossing and begin it in our first term of government," he said.

"It's a six-year project and during that time we will find the remainder of the money both from the state and possibly the private sector - if not it will be completed using government money."

Mr Macfarlane says the fact Mr Abbott did not mention it is irrelevant.

"Tony's already announced that twice - once in Melbourne and once in Brisbane - and no doubt he'll mention it again in the future," he said.

"But last night was a national speech and he was giving a snapshot of city projects and the range crossing is definitely going to be part of ... [a] three-year plan to start infrastructure rebuilding in Australia."

Topics: public-sector, activism-and-lobbying, agribusiness, agricultural-policy, regional, rail-transport, regional-development, toowoomba-4350