Albanese government scales back Inland Rail Project after $45bn blowout
The Albanese government will drastically scale back the inland rail project after its cost climbed to more than $45bn, abandoning plans to connect country NSW and Queensland by rail. The revised plan will keep work focused on the line between Beveridge in Victoria and Parkes in New South Wales.
Transport Minister Catherine King said the government is redirecting $1.75bn to other national rail upgrades and is taking sensible decisions to realign Inland Rail. The change leaves the original 1,700km vision, first announced in 2017, effectively shelved.
Catherine King and Inland Rail
King said the reallocated funding was critical and came after decades of underinvestment in the network. She also said, “We are taking sensible decisions to realign the future of Inland Rail and build a safe, efficient and reliable network for the future.”
In February, she told the ABC, “What we’ve learned from both high speed rail overseas and from rail cases here in Australia, such as Inland Rail, a failed Coalition project … is that you’ve got to get all of that design work done.” That position now sits behind a decision that changes the project’s scope, not just its timetable.
Schott review in 2023
Labor commissioned Dr Kerry Schott to independently review the project in 2023. Her review estimated Inland Rail would cost upwards of $31.4bn and be completed by 2031, a figure she described as a doubling of the previous estimate and called “astonishing”.
Schott also cited “immature preliminary designs and approval requirements” among the reasons for the blowouts. Further independent costings commissioned by Inland Rail later put completion at 2036, while the government had budgeted just $14.5bn toward the freight link.
Parkes to Beveridge route
The government now expects construction between Parkes and Beveridge to be completed in late 2027. Delivering that section will allow double-stacked freight trains to run west to Perth and east to Newcastle from Beveridge, while the northern half of the scheme is effectively left aside.
King said on Tuesday that the 2023 independent review found major deficiencies in the governance and delivery of Inland Rail by the Liberals and Nationals. The government is still seeking environmental and state approvals, and it is preserving land where the project is intended to be built through northern NSW and south-eastern Queensland.
Nick Miller, then Inland Rail chief executive, said in 2024 that the project was not “stalled” and that the government was still committed to the northern half. The new funding decision puts that commitment aside and narrows the project to the section the government says it can still deliver.
