Australia: Coal competition affecting grain rail freight

Farmers in north-west New South Wales say fierce competition with the Hunter’s coal Industry is making it increasingly difficult to get grain to the Port of Newcastle by rail.

The NSW Farmers Association says during several years of drought and small crops, the availability of rail freight wagons was reduced, but this has created transport problems now there is a good harvest.

The association’s senior vice-president, Richard Clark, says competition with coal and industry deregulation has made a bad situation worse.

“So we’ve got a shortage of train sets, we’ve got a shortage of slots through the Murrurundi tunnel because we’re now competing with an ever increasing coal mining industry, we’ve also got the first year of deregulation of wheat marketing,” he said.

Australia