Benalla businesses in line for Inland Rail opportunities

By Contributed

Sep 20, 2024

50 Benalla businesses attended the Inland Rail ‘meet the contractor’ events with construction partner John Holland, which outlined opportunities for local businesses to become involved in the project. Photo: Supplied.

Inland Rail’s ‘Meet the Contractor’ events in Broadford, Euroa and Benalla have been a huge success, generating extraordinary interest from local businesses.

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More than 120 local businesses, 50 of which were from Benalla, met with Inland Rail and construction partner John Holland to find out how they can become suppliers of goods and services to the freight rail project.

Inland Rail Delivery Director B2A, Ed Walker, said the turnout was a fantastic result as they look to increase the number of businesses that benefit economically from the project.

“It was great to see so many local and First Nations businesses expressing their interest in supplying the project,” he said.

“We want to see more local and First Nations businesses win contracts on the Inland Rail project and maximise the economic benefit along the alignment.”

Inland Rail has already spent close to $100m with local Victorian suppliers since the project began and more businesses and communities are set to benefit when construction commences at Benalla, Euroa, the Hume Freeway – Tallarook, Seymour, Wandong and Broadford in 2025.

Inland Rail is replacing road bridges, lowering rail tracks, and modifying railway stations to enable the safe operation and passage of double-stacked freight trains from Brisbane to Melbourne.

Construction partner, John Holland met local businesses and suppliers and outlined a range of services they are looking to employ including labour, quarry material, industrial consumables, plant and equipment, non-destructive digging, road sweeping, CCTV inspection survey, and waste management.

Representatives from the Industry Capability Network were also in attendance to assist local businesses and encourage them to register for their preferred work packages published on the ICN Gateway.

Inland Rail is a nation building project that will transform how goods are moved around Australia, first connecting Beveridge to Parkes, NSW, by 2027 before later connecting from Narromine, NSW, to Kagaru, Queensland.