Study of Sydney-Adelaide corridor as freight volumes grow

<p>The Sydney-Adelaide road and rail corridor will be the focus of a four government AusLink Corridor Strategy study, transport minister Warren Truss said today (Wednesday, August 13).</p> <p>The study &#8211 one of 24 related to planning for the country’s transport future &#8211 will be overseen by a group of transport officials drawn from the transport and infrastructure agencies of the Australian, New South Wales, Victorian and South Australian governments.</p> <p>"The principal focus will be the Sturt Highway and the interstate standard gauge track via Broken Hill," Mr Truss said.</p> <p>"AusLink, the National Transport Plan, engages all levels of government in cooperative transport planning and opens dialogue with industry to forecast traffic and freight demand.</p> <p>"This study will form the basis for a robust corridor strategy that will inform joint federal and state investment decisions for the Sydney-Adelaide corridor beyond 2009.</p> <p>"Increasingly, this corridor is used to ‘land bridge’ commodities and manufactured products, including cars, between Perth and Adelaide, and the eastern ports, including Sydney and Brisbane. </p> <p>&#8220The high volume of perishables and soft fruits transported in the corridor requires smooth running of freight transport vehicles in order to avoid spoilage and bruising."</p> <p>The public, transport operators, councils and industry will be invited to comment on the draft Sydney-Adelaide strategy before it is finalised mid-2007.</p> <br />