Pacific National to sell or close rail freight business

[johnnigh]

PABC National News lunchtime Wednesday:

Pacific National to sell or close rail freight business


Map: Warrnambool 3280
The owner of the Pacific National rail freight business has announced plans to sell or close its grain transport operation in Victoria.

The company will also be cutting back its New South Wales service.

The Portlink rural container business in Victoria will also be sold or closed.

The parent company, Asciano, made the announcement yesterday, saying the continuing drought means the outlook for the service is poor, and the company can not handle the volatility.

But the Victorian Farmers' Federation's grains spokesman Geoff Nalder says it is a legacy of years of neglect of rail freight by State Governments.

"Those businesses operating grain haulage on rail are just so handicapped by the poor state of the underwheel infrastructure, that its a non-profit-making operation for them," he said.

The Liberal Party says company's decision will mean an influx of heavy vehicles onto Victoria's road network.

Liberals transport spokesman Terry Mulder says it is an extraordinary turnaround and will affect a number of businesses around the state.

"The container operators out of Warrnambool, Ballarat and Shepparton are going to be impacted on. Also the entire grain crop across Victoria and also there are log haulers out of Wodonga and Gippsland on the other side of the state. All of this freight is going to end up back on the roads," he said.

He says the Premier John Brumby must take personal responsibility both as Premier and as the former Treasurer.

"He handed Pacific National around $134-million 12 months ago to take back the lines and it appears there was no contractual obligation on their behalf to stay on as the operator."

"This is an extraordinary situation the fact that we have a rail line without an operator," Mr. Mulder said.