The East West Link will make Victoria the most productive state according to the ‘Freight State Plan’ released in August this year, despite the auditor general’s warning that more money needs to be poured into rail.
In the plan, the $8billion road tunnel is touted as one of the key initiatives to ensure Victoria keeps its self-declared status as the freight state.
This will be achieved, in part, by adding an outer metropolitan ring road, and duplicating the M1 with the east west link as pictured.
However, the Victorian Auditor General noted in a 2010 report that without further action to “move road freight onto rail” the number of trucks on roads would triple by 2030.
The report pointed to a 50 per cent increase in freight tonnage moved around Melbourne between 1999 and 2007 and predicted a 250 per cent increase in freight being shipped into the Port of Melbourne by 2030.
But with only one per cent of the load being moved around by rail in 2007, the Auditor-General said that growth of rail freight had been hampered and stagnant.
Infrastructure Australia, the federal body tasked with identifying key infrastructure projects, also argued the east west link “will improve the efficiency and capacity of the freight network”.
The state’s truck plan estimated that the freight sector was worth as much as 15 per cent of the state’s economy. Hence, the government would build the east west link in the fastest time possible.
The report acknowledged the amount of freight moved by rail in Victoria could increase from three per cent to 15-20 per cent.
Current rail links to move freight are pictured below.
All graphics are from the Victorian Freight Plan.
East West Link Blog 
The only possible response is ‘Back the Truck up!’