More trucks on roads feared as long-promised freight hub in Melbourne’s west put on ice

A long-promised freight hub for Melbourne’s west has been deferred indefinitely, prompting fears hundreds of trucks will be added to local roads despite years of campaigning from councils, industry and even Premier Jacinta Allan – who once declared that it must be the “first cab off the rank”.

The state government told industry earlier this month that the Western Interstate Freight Terminal (WIFT), which was first proposed in 2018 and recommended as an urgent priority since 2021, will be “deferred until it is needed”. The former Morrison government’s choice of the Beveridge Intermodal Freight Terminal, in Melbourne’s north, will be prioritised instead.

Victoria has already spent $400 million on compensation for landowners in the path of the proposed Outer Metropolitan Ring Road, which it is hoped will one day connect the now-delayed western freight terminal by car and train.

The delay is a significant change of plan for the state government, which has for years fought for the Truganina site to be delivered before or at the same time as Beveridge, clashing with the Morrison government over the issue. It is the latest Victorian project to face serious or indefinite delays, with Airport Rail and school upgrades put on hold as the budget grapples with the highest debt-to-revenue ratio in the nation and taxpayers face a $25 million-a-day interest bill by 2027.

The WIFT received $740 million in Commonwealth funding in the budget delivered before the 2022 federal election, compared to $1.62 billion for the Beveridge option.

When that funding was announced, Allan, in her former role as transport infrastructure minister, said Melbourne’s west needed the facility immediately and it had to be the “first cab off the rank”.

“The Victorian government made it very clear, and has made it very clear on a number of occasions, that our priority for the establishment of an intermodal freight terminal for our city and state is in the western suburbs of Melbourne,” Allan said in 2022.

“There’s a very good logical reason for this. It’s because the western suburbs of Melbourne is the heart of Australia’s freight and logistics industry.”

But the government this month updated a website to confirm the push to deliver Truganina first had been abandoned. It said “things have changed” since 2021 because the Commonwealth was pushing ahead with the Beveridge site following a review of the Inland Rail project, while private freight projects were also under way to provide “sufficient capacity” for container volumes over the medium term.

“While the WIFT remains a priority for the Victorian government, its delivery will be deferred until when it’s needed,” it said.

‘There may be an additional 400-plus trucks daily on our roads.’Sophie Ramsey, LeadWest alliance group chair

“The government will now look at protecting land at Truganina for WIFT. This process may also help unlock land not required for WIFT for industrial development in the short term.” 

Planning for both hubs has been under way since 2018. Victoria’s freight strategy argues both will be needed to handle long double-stacked trains that will travel the country along the national Inland Rail corridor.

That document said Truganina should be developed first and was the best location given it was near 50 per cent of existing interstate freight rail customers.

LeadWest, an alliance of five councils in Melbourne’s western suburbs, said the project was supported by the supply chain and logistics industry, and it believed it would be the catalyst for enough investment to create 28,000 jobs in the region.

“LeadWest is also concerned about the impact on the roads in Melbourne’s west, given there may be an additional 400-plus trucks daily on our roads, including the Western Ring Road that is already at capacity,” group chair and Melton councillor Sophie Ramsey said.

Peter Anderson, chief executive of the Victorian Transport Association, said he was disappointed by the decision because the western site was closer to the Port of Melbourne and the customers the rail line would serve.

“Containerised freight goes into warehouses … Those warehouses are in Truganina and Laverton, where the WIFT is,” he said.

Anderson said he had road safety concerns because Inland Rail would deliver goods to Melbourne’s north quickly, but trucks moving to the west would regularly create kilometres-long queues on key corridors.

“It is going to cost a lot of money to get from Beveridge to Footscray and a lot of money to come back, and it’s going to have to be done 10,000 times a day.”

A spokesperson for federal Transport Minister Catherine King said the independent review of Inland Rail recommended two terminals in Victoria, but also called for the northern site to be prioritised.

“The Albanese government supports this approach and is working with the Victorian government to settle funding and delivery arrangements,” they said.

The federal government has committed $61.8 million for planning work around investment in the WIFT and southern section of rail along the proposed Outer Metropolitan Ring Road. The existing $740 million commitment to the project remains.

A Victorian government spokesperson said the Commonwealth’s prioritisation of Beveridge and private investment meant “the additional capacity the Western Interstate Freight Terminal (WIFT) would provide is not needed in the short term”.

“The Western Interstate Freight Terminal remains important, but its delivery will be deferred until additional terminal capacity is needed,” they said.

The Allan government has also extended interstate rail freight operations at South Dynon, which is leased by Pacific National and due to expire by 2031, by another 20 years.

A spokesperson for the company did not say whether this decision affected its proposal to deliver its own freight hub at Little River, a private sector alternative that could service the west but has raised environmental concerns.

“We will continue to work with the state government to ensure intermodal rail freight operations in Victoria are secure and support the delivery of a terminal solution in Melbourne’s west so we can continue to deliver what matters for our customers,” the spokesperson said.

Wyndham City deputy mayor Josh Gilligan said Pacific National and the state government needed to work together to prioritise Truganina over Little River with “clear and upfront timelines”.

“The state can’t renege on their own expert planning and freight advice, including their freight plan, by quietly walking away from Truganina, which contains nearly a majority of Victoria’s interstate freight customers,” he said.

Opposition ports and freight spokeswoman Roma Britnell said the WIFT had been delayed because of the government’s financial management.

“Both the [Beveridge freight terminal] and WIFT are critical to the future of Victoria’s freight system, and both these projects should be proceeding,” she said.

Liberal Northern Metropolitan MP Evan Mulholland said the state was being “dragged kicking and screaming to back the Beveridge project and is only supporting this critical project now due to the federal Labor government adopting the former Liberal Coalition government’s policy”.

A key feature of the Truganina site was that it would one day connect to the Outer Metropolitan Ring Road, a proposed 100-kilometre road and rail link from Werribee and Melton to Craigieburn, Epping and Thomastown. A business case for the project is being developed. 

The Victorian government has put an overlay on the land where this corridor is expected to be built, meaning landowners who sell their properties in this area can be entitled to compensation. Since 2018-19, 42 claims have been lodged and the government has paid out $400 million in compensation.

The biggest years for payouts were 2019-20 and 2020-21, when $118 million and $155 million in claims were paid out.

The Age