The ARA welcomes more than $1 billion in critical investment from the Australian Government and the ARTC to improve the resilience and reliability of essential national rail infrastructure. 

This funding is part of the Australian Government’s $13.2 billion investment in nationally significant rail projects under the Infrastructure Investment Program over the next four years. 

The $540 million Commonwealth investment announced in Tuesday’s Federal Budget 2024-2025, combined with a $500 million investment from the ARTC into its Network Investment Program, follows extensive advocacy by the ARA and rail freight stakeholders for investment in the nation’s ageing rail infrastructure. 

The ARA would like to commend the dedication of the ARTC and the Australian Government to improving our national rail infrastructure and working with industry to identify the most critical projects.  

We hope to see both the Commonwealth and State governments continue to invest in resilient and reliable rail infrastructure to ensure we can move more people and freight by rail. 

The ARA also welcomes the Federal Government’s investment of $1.4 billion towards the 72km Metronet project in Perth, $50 million towards designing Stage 2B of the Canberra light rail and an additional $1.2 billion for the Direct Sunshine Coast Rail Line in Queensland. 

You can read more about our response to the Budget in our media release.