Inland Rail key part of current and future plans for Dubbo Business

Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government and Local Member for Parkes Mark Coulton with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack and Concrete World Industries Managing Director Troy Paton.
Wednesday 09 June 2021

Inland Rail’s construction is already making a real difference for regional businesses and once operational the freight rail line will provide an alternative transport option for hundreds of supply chains that traverse Australia’s east coast.

Efficiency is one of the key service offerings of Inland Rail that will drive cost-competitiveness and shift more freight from road to rail. Early results from a new CSIRO study estimate that producers, manufactures and growers could save approximately $170 million in transport costs each year by shifting their supply chains from road to Inland Rail.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack was joined by Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government and Local Member for Parkes Mark Coulton to announce the early findings from the CSIRO Inland Rail Supply Chain Mapping Study on 28 May 2021. These new findings build on a 2019 pilot study by CSIRO and models supply chain movements and transport costs for 140 commodities that are likely to transport freight on Inland Rail.

Following the announcement both Ministers toured Concrete World Industries, one of 99 local businesses who benefited from the $110 million spent locally on the construction of the Parkes to Narromine (P2N) section of Inland Rail.

Troy Paton, Concrete World Industries Managing Director, took the Ministers on a tour of his operations in Dubbo. The business first established in 2011 recently opened their third site, now operating in Dubbo, Orange and Newcastle. Concrete World Industries are already considering opportunities to grow further and are looking at locations like Parkes to expand and take advantage of the cost efficient freight transport that Inland Rail will provide.

Concrete World Industries currently have at least six trucks transporting goods into their Dubbo and Orange sites each week – by using Inland Rail they could significantly reduce their transport costs.