Interface Improvement Program

In 2019, the Australian Government committed $44 million to the Inland Rail Interface Improvement Program (II Program) to assist in the development of project ideas that could boost the benefits that flow from Inland Rail.

The Interface Improvement Program was established to support the development of ideas for more productive rail-based supply chains and improvements to capacity on key country rail lines that intersect with Inland Rail. The identification of prioritised proposals and expression of interest rounds in 2019 and 2020 resulted in 38 project proposals progressing under the Interface Improvement Program.

The Interface Improvement Program contained 2 program streams to improve rail connections that intersected with Inland Rail and the interface between supply chains and Inland Rail:

• Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP) to assess the costs and benefits of proposed improvements to the interface between supply chains and Inland Rail.
• Country Lines Improvement Program (CLIP) to assess the costs and benefits of proposed improvements to country lines that intersect with Inland Rail, with a view to potentially accommodating longer, heavier and faster trains.

Participation

Participation in the Interface Improvement Program was based on a best practice gateway assessment approach to build project proposals from ideas through to strategic business cases and consisted of a 4-step gateway process.

• Step 1: Submitting an Expression of Interest
• Step 2: Assessment of the Expression of Interest
• Step 3: Project planning
• Step 4: Proposal development