Floods have yet again cut both the road and rail network across the Nullarbor.
This is the latest incident following the floods in early 2022 where the trans Australian railway line was out for more than 3 weeks. The railway line was closed after a ‘one-in-200-year’ flood event severely damaged hundreds of kilometres of the line. https://lnkd.in/grt7j59B
In November 2022, weather also caused a freight train derailment in Western Victoria, which kept the MelbourneAdelaide line closed for over a week.
https://lnkd.in/geNguBtv
While the Eyre Highway has reopened, the trans-Australian Railway line is expected to remain closed for at least several more days. Given the weather forecast and the high possibility of damage, this could extend out way beyond that timeframe.
This again raises the issue of the resilience of our national rail freight network. The last time the WA rail link was cut, it had a direct impact on WA consumers and industry with many supermarket shelves empty for the duration and business inputs in short supply.
It is critical that our national freight supply chains have a high degree of resilience, especially for freight rail given the volumes and national economic importance.
One for the federal government to consider in terms of the 10 year infrastructure pipeline, as well as the review of the National Freight & Supply Chain Strategy.
#freight #railfreight #resilience #climatechange #supplychainresilience
https://lnkd.in/g9Ky5D5j
