TRANSCRIPT: PRESS CONFERENCE IN ALBURY, 11 October 2018

With: The Hon Sussan Ley MP, Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories, Member for Farrer, Mr Bill Tilley MP, Member for Benambra (Vic), Mr Greg Aplin, Member for Albury (NSW)

E&OE

Subjects: North East Rail Line.

SUSSAN LEY:

Good afternoon everybody. It’s terrific to be here on the longest railway platform in the Southern Hemisphere in Albury, with my good friend and colleague, the Deputy Prime Minister; also with Bill Tilley, the Member for Benambra. This is an announcement that’s very relevant to his electorate, so I’m delighted that you’re here too, Bill; with Perin Davey, the Nationals’ Senate candidate for the next Federal Election. Yay! Welcome Perin. And Greg Aplin, my colleague from New South Wales, who like me, has received a lot of mail on trains over many years.

So Michael, thank you for joining us or thank you for being here and initiating this, it’s a terrific announcement. ARTC has got a big bucket of money to help those trains on the Northeast line run more reliably, more efficiently, and faster. And for commuters in this region, that is indeed incredibly good news. So, I’m going to hand over to you, and thank you again.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Thank you Susan, and on the Wodonga railway platform on March 16, I announced that a scope of works would be done, and that scope of works for the rail track, for the Northeast Rail Line has been completed. It’s been ticked off, indeed, by the Institute of Railway Technology at Monash University. So they’ve given it the tick of approval, and the ARTC now has the $235 million it needs to upgrade the track between here and Melbourne; $235 million to make sure that when those VLocity trains, as being committed by the Victorian Government, get on the track, that trains will be able to travel up to 130 kilometres an hour. That’s great news, great news for commuters of the Northeast, certainly great news for everybody here. It boosts regional development.

I’m delighted that I’m here with Sussan Ley. She understands all about Regional Development, as does each and every member of the team that I’ve got here behind me. Bill Tilley, I worked with Bill a number of years ago on a number of Regional Development Projects, the Member for Benambra fighting hard to make sure that the people in his electorate, Benambra, get a better rail service. This announcement today goes on the top of the Victorian Liberal and Nationals’ commitment last week to increase regional rail. Federally, the Liberal and Nationals Government has committed $1.57 billion to making sure that regional rail gets the right tracks, gets the right infrastructure it requires and the people deserve. And I’m delighted of course, to be renewing acquaintances with Greg Aplin, the hardworking Member for Albury.

[Station announcement interrupts]

SUSSAN LEY:

On time.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

On time, every time. Nothing’s going to stop these sorts of announcements; nothing’s going to stop this sort of build. It’s very, very exciting. And of course, I’m also delighted I’m here with Perin Davey, the Nationals’ candidate for New South Wales, for the Senate. Perin is a real fighter for her community. She’s shown a great spirit and determination to ensure not only rail services but better deals for irrigators, better deals for people who live in Southern New South Wales, like Sussan, are met. Certainly she’ll be in there fighting hard to get that centre spot and making sure that the Nationals and the Liberals continue to deliver for the constituents that we serve.

It’s good too that Brian Green is here, the General Manager of Assets for ARTC. He’s happy to answer any technical questions that may arise, but I’d be happy now to hand over to Bill Tilley to also make some remarks, and then we’ll be happy to take any questions after that.

BILL TILLEY:

Thank you to the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, who’s joined us here in Albury Wodonga, though we stand on the Albury platform is terrific but also, my Parliamentary colleagues, both from the New South Wales Parliament, Greg Aplin; my federal colleague, Sussan Ley. And our future, hopefully…

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:

[Talks over] Hear, hear.

BILL TILLEY:

… the future, and wish her every success in the next federal campaign. But it’s a terrific announcement today. We’ve known this has been coming. There’s been lots of detail that’s gone into this. I’d particularly like to thank the representatives from the ARTC today that have joined us, because the work has not stopped; it’s continuing on. But this announcement today is an extraordinary, terrific marriage of what the Liberal-National Coalition in Victoria has been doing, and to achieve. And this is a real hand-in-glove opportunity. So, with our policy last week from Matthew Guy, certainly, Victoria is a state of cities, not a city state, and we have a significant population issue to deal with, and what a perfect lifestyle that we share here on the border of New South Wales and Victoria with our lifestyle, and the potential possibility to be able to commute to those major capitals into the future with the enhanced rail improvements that we have coming very soon.

Significantly, the most important message is that the work will not stop under a Liberal-National Victorian Coalition Government; is that we will work hand-in-glove, in partnership with the Federal Liberal-National Government. And that will see that, if we’re given the privilege, and in the event we form Government in November, is that we will move straight away to working on building the construction of the rolling stock, the VLocity rolling stock, will be able to run on the tracks, and will be delivered by a Liberal-National Coalition in 2021 when the ARTC and the Australian Government includes its works along the Northeast Line.

SUSSAN LEY:

Thank you.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Alright, any questions?

JOURNALIST:

I guess, what most people want to know is when will these works start and when will they be finished?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Hopefully we’re going to start them next year, and hopefully we’re going to finish them in time for the VLocity rolling stock to hit the tracks by mid-2021. So, that’s the plan. The fact is, this is long overdue. The fact is people have been asking for it for a long, long time. These sorts of works don’t come cheaply, and of course, there has to be community consultation, there has to be engineering works and the like. But we’ve done the scope of studies now. I announced the funding on 16 March this year. The Monash University has ticked off on the scope of works. As soon as we get those tenders out, as soon as those contracts get awarded, we’ll be able to start.

JOURNALIST:

So, what could prevent it from starting early next year?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Nothing really. We want to get it moving. We’re a Government that builds things; we’re a Government which gets things done; we’re a Government which delivers, and we want to get on board and move it along quickly.

JOURNALIST:

Can you tell us about how the money will be used? Will passengers experience any delays or disruptions while this happens?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

It’s to get up to Victorian class two standard gauge lines, is to make sure that the VLocity trains, once delivered, can use the track, go up to 130 kilometres an hour. It’s actually to get passengers, commuters, to their destinations sooner and safer; that’s what it’s all about. I’m happy to work with the Victorian Government to achieve just that. This is all about making sure that the rail line gives passengers a better ride; making sure that we build the infrastructure that people, want, need, expect, and deserve. That’s what we’re doing. The time for talking is over, the time for building is now. So the ARTC will get on with the job of awarding contracts and we’ll get the project underway.

JOURNALIST:

Why not commit to the class one tracks that will go to 160 kilometres an hour? Last week that’s what the Victorian Liberals said that they would do if they were elected in November.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

If the Victorian Liberals want to spend that amount of money then we’ll be happy to work with them to seeing that achieved, but at the moment this is what we’ve announced $235 billion, working with the ARTC. They leased the line, making sure that they award the tenders that are necessary and making sure that we get the line built. They’re able to travel up to 130 kilometres when we get that rolling stock, the VLocity rolling stock out there. Cathy McGowan, I spoke to her this morning. She’s delighted its happening and she’s sorry that she can’t be here just like the Deputy Leader of the Nationals, the Victorian Senator Bridget McKenzie would have also liked to have been here, but she’s got other things to do today as far as food standards and the like are concerned.

We’re all very busy. So too are people, and time is money. So the less time they spend on trains the better off they’ll be, the better off the commute will be, and that’s why we’re doing it.

JOURNALIST:

We’ve been waiting for this scope of works for a little while. Has the Victorian Government ticked off on that as well? Is there still a partnership between those two Governments?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, there’s always a partnership with, you know, I’m happy and willing to work with any Government of any persuasion to get things done. I have to say that the Victorian Government was the first to sign the Intergovernmental Agreement for Inland Rail and good on them for doing that. The New South Wales Government has followed suit; I’m looking forward to fruitful discussions in coming weeks with the Queensland Labor Government. So, I’m happy to work with any Government to get things done.

I’m delighted that Matthew Guy and Peter Walsh made the announcements they did for regional rail just last week. This is a commitment to Victoria’s future, and we just heard Bill Tilley talking about the fact that this isn’t just a one city state in Victoria; it is in fact a many city state, and if there’s one thing that all the politicians behind me, particularly Sussan Ley and I are working towards and that is making sure that regional development happens so that we don’t get overpopulated cities, that we don’t get the population base just settling in Melbourne and Sydney. As Bill Tilley has just said there are options and lifestyles out here in regional Australia. We’re here in Albury at the moment - there’s no finer place to live than in regional Australia, and Albury is one of those finer cities.

JOURNALIST:

And you said this was long overdue. To put things in perspective, the V-line arrived 25 minutes late just earlier. Why was it, was is it so long overdue?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Why was the V-line late today? I’m not quite sure, but look…

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:

Just ask the Victorian…

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Yes, maybe ask the Victorian…why the train was late; I’m not sure. But we’ve turned up on time. We’ve turned up with our cheque book. The ARTC is going to turn up with the contracts and work will happen soon.

JOURNALIST:

People have been calling for these upgrades for a really long time, so why are you committing the funding to it now?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well we’ve answered. We’ve listened. Of course, there has to be public consultation. We’ve had Monash University do the necessary technical work on the specs that it has done. They’ve ticked it off, so it’s up to the ARTC now to get those contracts out and we’ll get work started. We’ve listened. We’ve listened and we’re acting.

JOURNALIST:

When will we get some more details on exactly how this is going to work and what our commuters can expect?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, I might ask Brian Green perhaps to answer the specific questions of the ARTC in that regard, if you like?

JOURNALIST:

Can you just explain, I guess, what commuters should expect when these works begin?

BRIAN GREEN:

We’ve been working very closely with the Victorian agencies and what we’ve done is we’ve developed a scope of works to actually address the traffic infrastructure to deliver Victorian class two standard. What we’re doing at the moment is that we’re currently putting together the tenders that we need to engage a head contractor. We’re also doing some contractors for procurement of what’s called a turnout, some materials. And we’re doing some design at the moment. So we’re hoping, we’re intending to start works, major works will be started in March, during the possession. What will people see?  Probably a three-day closure in March, possibly April next year. They’ll start seeing some of the works done. What we’ll do is we’re installing these turnouts to give us some flexibility on the dual track, with the aim of minimising any disruptions to the customers.

JOURNALIST:

Is it too early to say whether people will have to use the buses for X amount of time? Can you tell us that?

BRIAN GREEN:

We’re certainly working with the Victorian agencies to prevent that.

JOURNALIST:

So what’s some of the major works include, like I understand you’ll be smoothing a few tracks down, like making it more of a smoother ride?

BRIAN GREEN:

Yes I think they’re very beautiful. There’s some things called transom bridges out there, but from a rail point they go a fixed point. What we’ll be doing is we’ll be replacing some of the transom bridges, 64 of them, and we’ll be installing a significant amount of ballast, the rocks that you can see on the track, and what we’ll be doing is something that the community are very passionate about, is mud holes, something that happens on a railway and we’ll be removing all of the mud holes. To do that, what you do is you do undercutting. You have a bar that actually goes under track, you cut it out. If you need to fix the formation you do that, and then you install a new ballast and tumblers.

So, basically what we’ll have is a track that is mud hole all removed, a number of the fixed points removed, and that makes [indistinct]….

[Station announcement]

…so when we do all of those works, we’ll have a more reliable and, in essence, a smoother passenger ride.

JOURNALIST:

How long will the works take, all up?

BRIAN GREEN:

We’re planning on three years. We will have completion in April 2021.

JOURNALIST:

Will that be, go along the line in different stages as they go or is it all at once?

BRIAN GREEN:

The engineers from the Victorian agencies, from ARTC and have been overseen by Monash University, have done an independent review. What we’ve got is basically from Melbourne to Albury, kilometre-by-kilometre, metre-by-metre, we know exactly what work we’re going to do and where. We’ve also been working with the agents to make sure that we have schedule, so we know over the three years when we’ll being doing which bit when.

JOURNALIST:

Yes. You’ll give a bit of notice to commuters in that region before it starts?

BRIAN GREEN:

Oh absolutely, yes. People who are travelling on the train will see a lot of large yellow machines, and they will see a lot of people in orange. So they will see the works. Yes.

JOURNALIST:

Just a question, how are you getting to Bendigo at three-thirty?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

I’m actually flying because I have to be there, I’ve got a few things to do so I’m actually flying but I catch many trains, and certainly when I’m in and around Melbourne, I often do the commute with my daughter Georgina but so yes, I’m actually flying.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:

And may I add, as an aviator, that the DPM is flying in a very modest, light aeroplane.

[Laughter]

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Which does bounce around bit!

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:

Very modest indeed.

JOURNALIST:

Thank you.

Shane Manning