FEDERAL and state ministers have turned the first sods on the Beveridge Intermodal Precinct on Melbourne’s northern outskirts – confirming the future Melbourne terminus of the Inland Rail freight corridor – while a newly completed intermodal terminal just 20 kilometres away ramps up port-rail shuttle trains.
Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King and Victoria’s Minister for Freight and Ports Melissa Horne joined local mayors and MPs for the sod turning at Beveridge on Thursday [11 December].
With the Melbourne-Brisbane dedicated rail freight corridor well under way, freight industry stakeholders have been awaiting the start of construction of the $1.62 billion project, which has been delayed due to an array of environmental and planning issues.
Construction giant John Holland was appointed in the past week [10 December] as principal contractor for the project, which covers 1100 hectares of greenfield land adjacent to the Melbourne-Sydney rail line. The project will be overseen by federal entity National Intermodal.
Of the total site area, around 500 hectares of land will be preserved for green wedge and other long-term environmental and social benefits.
When complete with siding roads, hardstand and gantry cranes, the open-access terminal will allow double-stacked container trains from origins as far north as Brisbane to transfer containers to trucks for distribution to warehouses around Melbourne – including in the Beveridge precinct – or to port-bound trains for export.
The first stage of the project will deliver the only Melbourne terminal capable of receiving and servicing double stacked Inland Rail trains, with capacity for up to 200,000 TEU annually.
The new intermodal precinct is expected to create 8000 jobs within the precinct and support over 17,000 at its peak, with 70 per cent of the workforce living locally in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
Minister King told the launch event that Beveridge was the ideal place for the Melbourne terminus of Inland Rail.
“Beveridge, with its existing rail connections and proximity to the growing industrial north of Melbourne, was selected as the ideal place for us to start [seeking an intermodal terminal site],” Minister King said. “When completed, more than 167,000 [annual] truck trips will be removed from Victorian roads.”
Minister King also flagged a new road interchange at Camerons Lane, Beveridge designed to ease congestion for road users in the surrounding area as trucks begin and end their journeys in the new precinct.
Pointing to the future prospects of the Beveridge terminal, Minister King referenced the success of a similar intermodal precinct in Sydney, adding that each train pulling into the Beveridge terminal will replace up to 110 trucks.
“[Beveridge] builds on the success … of the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal in Sydney, which is already taking thousands of trucks off Sydney roads. That intermodal was announced, as we heard by then infrastructure minister, now Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese back in 2012,” Minister King recalled.
National Intermodal CEO James Baulderstone said the Beveridge Intermodal Precinct was a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to reshape how freight moves across Australia.
“We’re ready to deliver a nationally significant project that will not only drive $14 billion in economic uplift in Victoria and create more than 17,000 jobs, but also deliver real environmental benefits, including taking 167,000 truck trips off our roads each year and cutting emissions by more than 12 million tonnes.”
With key approvals now in place, site preparation works at Beveridge are beginning, paving the way for the main construction to begin early next year.
Meanwhile, the Aware Super-funded Melbourne Intermodal Terminal, owned and operated by Intermodal Terminal Company and located at Somerton – just 20 kilometres south of Beveridge – quietly launched in recent weeks, with the twelfth port-rail shuttle train leaving the terminal on 11 December.
The new terminal is incapable of acting as the Melbourne end of Inland Rail, however, due to the low clearance of a road-over-rail bridge on the Hume Highway at Craigieburn which prevents access by double-stacked container trains. No plans have been made to replace the flyover or increase its clearance.
MIT is targeting delivery by train of 1000 TEU from the terminal to the Port of Melbourne by Christmas, a spokesman told DCN, adding that the busy Christmas lead-up had prevented an official launch function.
A key initial cargo is containerised timber logs bound for Asia. Trucks are bringing these logs from regional Victoria to Somerton, where they are loaded into 40-foot containers.
Southern Shorthaul Railroad (SSR) has been engaged to move this freight and is currently running 600-metre trains from MIT, with plans to extend train lengths as needed, five times a week. These export trains are an important enabler of import trains on the port-rail shuttle network, ensuring revenue services on each leg of the round trip.
The Port of Melbourne and Victorian Government are boosting the prospects of a viable port-rail shuttle through the Port Rail Shuttle Network Incentive Program Start-up Incentive Program, which initially proposes a $100 discount per TEU and $200 per FEU for import containers moved by rail to MIT.
The MIT is a central component of a wider one-stop-shop $1.6 billion logistics development called the Melbourne Intermodal and Industrial Exchange, backed by Aware Real Estate and Barings.
International Terminal Company CEO Mishkal Maharaj said MIT promised environmental, congestion-busting and safety benefits for Victoria.
“Victoria’s newest and largest intermodal terminal is helping reduce traffic congestion and transport emissions on busy Melbourne roads and motorways by moving freight containers on rail to the port of Melbourne.”