The Trans-Australia railway, which links Western Australia with the east coast via Adelaide, is now re-open.
The rail line was damaged on January 21 due to a once in a 200-year flooding event that damaged multiple locations along a 300 kilometre stretch of track.
Crews have been working around the clock to fix the damage, while the State Government has worked with industry, retailers and the Commonwealth to ensure the continued supply of freight and essential goods into Western Australia.
Measures undertaken included:
- Working with Pacific National and Linfox to create a 'land bridge' with freight transported by triple road trains from Adelaide to Kalgoorlie via the Eyre Highway. Once at Kalgoorlie, containers were loaded onto freight trains and hauled into Perth.
- Worked with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator to allow triple road trains to use Eyre Highway and access Kalgoorlie directly. As of Sunday, 55 triple road trains (53.5 metres) have used these exemptions to bring essential goods across the Nullarbor.
- Allowed double road trains (36.5 metres) to travel directly from Northam into Perth via Greenmount Hill with a safety escort - 43 double road trains have entered Perth via this route.
Woolworths have also utilised the option to ship goods to Western Australia, with the first ship having left Sydney on February 8 and due to arrive at Fremantle Port by February 22.
The shipping option is anticipated to bring in more than 3,500 additional pallets of goods into Fremantle.
Deliveries will be able to be made to supermarkets 24/7, under planning law changes made in 2020, which will help ease some of the backlog of supply.
As stated by Transport Minister Rita Saffioti:
"I'd like to thank the Australian Rail Track Corporation, retailers, industry and in particular our truck drivers for helping keep our freight and supply moving through this unprecedented event.
"I'd also like to thank the community for being so supportive and only buying what they needed at the supermarket, making it much easier for us to manage the supply chain issues.
"It will take some time to clear the backlog of supplies, so I encourage everyone to remain patient and to continue to only buy what you need over the next few weeks.
"We are continuing to allow truck deliveries to supermarkets 24/7, under changes to planning laws in 2020, which will mean we can get more essential goods and supplies back onto our supermarket shelves quicker."
