The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) has announced it has received over 1 billion AUD in funding from the Australian Government.
The funding, which includes Commonwealth contributions of roughly 540 million AUD, will assist ARTC in the reinforcement and upgrade of major sections of the country’s 8,500km national rail network.
“The freight and logistics task in Australia is rapidly growing and rail is central to supporting the national objective to transport large volumes of goods and commodities efficiently to market to help increase economic productivity and growth with a reduced emissions footprint.
“Targeted and strategic investments along key sections of ARTC’s 8,500-kilometre network will have a measurable impact on the ability of the national supply chain to withstand and recover quicker to the challenges of extreme and intense weather events.
“The commitment by the Australian Government, coupled with ARTC’s investment, will deliver outcomes that will improve the networks resilience, reliability, and therefore overall operational performance.
“These investments are underpinned by ARTC’s Network Investment Program, which has been developed with customer and industry insights and input.”
The investment is in addition to the ARTC’s own commitment of 500 million AUD via its Network Investment Program, which was developed with the help of industry and shareholders, as well as 150 million AUD already invested in resilience activities by ARTC since 2022.
After a number of years facing extreme disruptions due to natural causes, the upgrades are hoped to improve resiliency and reliability, with specific focus being dedicated to the upgrade of crossing loops, culverts, track rehabilitation, re-railing, signalling works and sleeper replacements.
