WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti says she’s received ‘no response’ from Arc Infrastructure on rail buyback

WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti claims she has had “no response” from Arc Infrastructure about plans to buy back the State’s rail network and “not a day goes by” without feedback from CBH Group about the lines. Ms Saffioti made the comments in front of hundreds of WA business leaders at a Chamber of Commerce and Industry breakfast in Perth when asked if she had received any correspondence about the ambitious plan announced in January. She said the State Government had penned a letter to the rail lessee asking it to consider entering “formal negations” enabling the State Government to take back control of the rail line, 24 years into a 49-year lease. The question drew laughter from some members of the crowd, with Ms Saffioti herself also smiling before answering “not yet”. She said it was an “interesting policy dilemma for government” that she could talk about for hours. “I am not going to go into criticism of a particular company that owns that lease now,” Ms Saffioti said. “But we are dealing with the cost of not having (product) on rail.” Ms Saffioti said demand to use WA’s freight rail network was “extraordinary” but difficulty in dealing with Arc had led some companies to accept they would have to shift product via the State’s road network. She said this was costing the State Government money and stifling potential for both big and small businesses. “I have seen first-hand examples of where companies have wanted to put freight on rail and they have come to me and they have been (un)able to reach a conclusion with the rail owners,” Ms Saffioti said. “As a result, they have had to put product on to roads. We have been spending money on roads and we are getting a less-best alternative. And that causes costs and delays. “I would say weekly, I would get a proposal or a company coming in and not being able to access rail.” She said CBH Group — which uses about 2500km of the State’s rail network to cart grain — was in regular contact. “There would not be a day that goes by where I don’t hear from CBH complaining about access to rail and the cost,” Ms Saffioti said. “And we (the State Government) want to try and invest in some of the key rail line routes to allow farmers to get their grain to port in that key window to maximise profit.” CBH, Australia’s biggest grain exporter, wants to transport and export the majority of WA’s grain harvest in the first half of the year at a time when prices are generally higher, before other global crops come online. Ms Saffioti also revealed the State Government had appointed a “negotiation team”, including members of the Treasury and its legal team, to kickstart negotiations. She said there would also be benefits for other medium-sized businesses which wanted to use the rail lines. “Having access to common-user infrastructure helps to support smaller medium-sized businesses who are relying on these rail lines to move product,” Ms Saffioti said. “Having common user and fair access will help support the resources sector and the farming communities and be an economically positive thing for the State.” A CBH spokesman declined to comment, but its CEO Ben Macnamara last month told Countryman the co-operative had endured years of “challenges” at the hands of Arc, and a buyback could address “structural issues” limiting grain transport on rail. Arc Infrastructure declined to comment.