Farmers call for a new rail line from Narrogin to Pinjarra to turbocharge tonnes to Kwinana Grain Terminal

Farmers have gone in to bat for an ambitious, long-term proposal to rebuild the Narrogin to Pinjarra rail line nearly 40 years after it closed as a way to turbocharge exports from CBH’s Kwinana Grain Terminal. The idea to rebuild the 153km line that closed in 1984 was propelled into the spotlight at a public meeting convened by the WAFarmers’ Corrigin-Lake Grace Zone in Kulin last week. A motion passed by nearly all of those in the room called on the State Government to plan for a rail line from Narrogin to Pinjarra to provide additional export capacity to the Kwinana Grain Terminal. “The Kwinana Grain Terminal is the largest in the southern hemisphere, it is primarily depended on a single line for supply, limiting its ability to maintain sufficient grain supplies,” it read. “Particularly if rail-slot demand is high or failure along the only rail it depends on.” The motion was moved by Varley farmer Bob Iffla, who said the move would give growers below the Great Eastern Highway access to the terminal and boost grain exports. The move is not an official WAFarmers’ grains council position, with its policies developed between the organisation’s transport committee and its grains council and required to be voted on. Those behind the idea believe it could dramatically increase how much grain – particularly from the Great Southern and Wheatbelt – could be exported from the Kwinana Grain Terminal each year. “We first need a socio-economic study, and an engineering study, to determine where the best place to put this line is ... and then we need funds from the Federal and State governments,” Mr Iffla, above, said. “We are not saying this has to be done tomorrow but this should be planned for the future. “We need another rail system to Kwinana, because the current system cannot cope.” About 60 per cent of WA’s annual harvest is moved to port by rail each year but the State’s ageing rail network has been buckling under the pressure of the record 24.3Mt harvest. Farmers claim struggles getting grain to port mean they have been receiving significantly less for their grain than world parity, with supply chain issues believed to have cost WA more than $1 billion. They are also concerned about the amount of grain still sitting in CBH’s bins after the 2021-22 harvest ended in January, with concerns up to 6Mt could be left over by the time the 2022-23 harvest starts in October. Mr Iffla produces up to 40,000 tonnes of grain across his 29,000ha farm each year and said supply chain issues had cost him $50 to $100 per tonne, totalling between $1.5 million to $3m, this year. He said the line would be the “silver bullet” to making many of the Wheatbelt’s closed Tier 3 lines sustainable, after that network of 500km of rail was deemed unviable and closed by the Barnett Government and rail lessor Arc Infrastructure in 2014. “It would make those lines work better and give those lines a second way into port,” Mr Iffla said. “It would make them viable, take a lot of trucks off the road, and reduce carbon emissions. “There are so many reasons this needs to happen.” The State-Government owned Narrogin to Pinjarra line was opened in stages between 1910 and 1927, to service the timber and horticultural industries before it closed in 1984 after a decline in use. It also provided a rail link between towns and mills, including Dwellingup and Boddington. A small section of the line, from Dwellingup to Alumina Junction near Pinjarra, is under the control of the Hotham Valley Tourist Railway and operates as a tourism attraction. The idea to rebuild and reopen the line was first floated during a speech by former Kulin Shire president Barry West at a similar meeting at Kulin’s Freebairn Recreation Centre in August 2020. Mr West had been quietly spearheading the idea before joining the CBH board earlier this year. At the 2020 meeting, Mr West told the 200-strong crowd the route would provide a “more efficient delivery route to Kwinana”. The Albany branch of WA Labor moved a motion earlier that year to support the reinstatement of that line, which some claim could be used for a proposed passenger train from Albany to Perth. “The lines at Brookton, Kulin, Kondinin, Narembeen, Corrigin, Bruce Rock, Lake Grace and Wagin were all designed to feed through Narrogin and onto Kwinana on that line,” Mr West said in 2020. “As soon as the line was shut down, rail became inefficient due to the track distance to port.” CBH’s grain outloading effort is always a race against the clock to get grain out to markets before the Black Sea crop comes online about midyear, causing prices to fall. The co-operative announced a refreshed strategy in June, with a goal of being able to receive an average 22Mt crop by 2033 and out-turn 70 per cent in the first half of the year. It believes the crop could be as big as 28Mt to 30Mt by 2033. Lake Grace farmer Noel Bairstow, left, who chaired the meeting, said the line was a “long-term fix” for WA’s struggling grain on network. “Grain would be able to come along those Tier 3 lines, and keep going to Kwinana,” he said. “It would also take weight off the Albany Port Zone, meaning trains could turn right at Wagin to Narrogin, instead of left to Albany every single time.” The project would involve building a dual-gauge line from Narrogin to Pinjarra. Trains could then join with the existing narrow gauge line from Brookton in the north, Albany in the south or Lake Grace and other farming areas in the east. It would give those areas more direct rail access to the Kwinana Grain Terminal, which has a capacity to export between 20Mt and 35Mt of grain per year. The line could continue on as standard gauge from Narrogin to Harrismith — where the WA Kaolin Mine is — and onwards to Kulin, Kondinin, Narembeen and Merredin. It would also serve as a second artery for rail freight into Perth, so that when the line from Kalgoorlie to Perth via Merredin and Avon goes down, products could still be brought in on trains. Reinstating the Pinjarra to Narrogin line would give farmers below the Great Eastern Highway and in the Kwinana South Zone and Albany Port Zone greater, more efficient access to the Kwinana Grain Terminal. Advocates also believe the line would alleviate pressure on the existing rail line between Avon and Kwinana. Other potential users include the new WA kaolin mine near Wickepin — which plans to transport 1Mt of product to Kwinana in coming years — as well as Covalent Lithium’s mine at Mt Holland. The line could also be used for passenger rail, with an advocacy group for the cause called Great Southern Rail Interest Group campaigning to put passenger trains from Albany to Perth. The group believes that to compete with buses and air travel from Albany, the trip needs to be less than six hours one way — which could be possible using the Narrogin to Pinjarra line. A major challenge for the project would be overcoming the steep terrain of the Darling Scarp, with trains once using the line carrying just light freight while a CBH train weighs upwards of 3000 tonnes. A 2013 West East Rail Feasibility study investigating rail alignments from Kwinana to the Great Southern Railway and the Eastern Goldfields Railway deemed there was “no compelling argument” to support any of the nominated rail corridors. It did note each would “capture significant volumes of grain which would otherwise travel by road”. The report noted the grain was travelling “less efficiently” on the existing network from the State’s Tier 3 lines but said none of the benefits would outweigh the “very significant capital costs associated with the construction of a new route down the escarpment”. Mr Bairstow said when that report was released, a 20Mt crop was still a pipedream. “The world has changed ... we have more grain now and we can’t get world parity for our grain prices,” he said. “The record harvest has shown how under-resourced we are with our infrastructure.”