Transport costs

Transport costs are a significant expense for Australian businesses and can be a deciding factor for both market growth and the sustainability of supply chains.

Inland Rail is a boost for Australian producers and manufacturers, travelling between Melbourne and Brisbane in under 24 hours, delivering goods with 98% reliability and providing a cost-competitive alternative to long-haul road transport.

‘Freight’s… a big portion of our costs…if we can send our product out for as little as we can, and as quickly as we can, that sounds great.’
Jill Allwright, Good Morning Cereals

Efficiencies with Inland Rail

Inland Rail will improve transport efficiencies by:

  • carrying more goods on longer and double-stacked trains
  • taking 10 hours off the travel time from Melbourne to Brisbane via the east coast rail link
  • increasing the reliability of arrival and transit times through a purpose-built line
  • reducing costly delays caused by congestion such as traffic, accidents or roadworks
  • reducing fuel costs by using as little as one third of the fuel it would take to move the same load via our highways.

Better for business

With efficiencies comes significant potential for reduced transport costs.

A Supply Chain Mapping Study conducted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) suggests that a shift to Inland Rail could see a $213 million reduction in transport costs each year across 22 million tonnes of freight.

The CSIRO study found the greatest potential for transport savings amongst existing road-based supply chains that switch their intermodal freight to Inland Rail – saving an average of $80.77 per payload tonne.

Inland Rail presents unique opportunities for each supply chain, business and commodity. CSIRO's analysis breaks down the transport cost reductions for 94 commodities with the potential to use and benefit from Inland Rail with some industries able to saving as high as $168.46 per tonne (for vehicles) and others a more conservative reduction of $4.17 per tonne (for livestock).

‘The cost saving we forecast to get out of the Inland Rail will mean that additional export markets can certainly come on board.’
Scott Whiteman, Chief Executive Officer, Riverina Oils and Bio Energy

Better for the country

More efficient movement of freight leads to transport savings and a boost for the country.

The National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy has identified a 1% improvement in the efficiency of our freight sector can generate $2 billion in gains for the national economy each year.

‘…anything that drives efficiency to meet the demands of marketing windows around the world for agricultural and mining produce is only going to enhance the wealth of the country.’
John Dornbusch, Chairman Interlink SQ