Aussie farmers raise fears on coal

Farmers fear coal will take up vital infrastructure meant for winter crop.

 

{reg]Australian farmers have raised fears key transport may not be able to handle this year's winter crop because of increased coal movements, according to the Land.

 

They claim that in 2009-10, coal exports from NSW totaled 110 million tons up from 97mt in 2008-09. The increase in coal shipments they say made it more difficult to ship grain from farm to port. Decreased availability of trains for transport has forced farmers to rely on more expensive trucks for transport. They anticipate further difficulties as the state's road network was not designed for the volume of grain now being transported by road.

However, some members of the industry say that it is underinvestment in the rail system not the volume of traffic is the problem. They claim that the short-term problem with rail was ÔÇ£under investmentÔÇØ in the western side of the rail network which was having a ÔÇ£very, very big effectÔÇØ on rail productivity, and there was ÔÇ£a lotÔÇØ of uncertainty about whether lines would continue to be maintained or upgraded. Investing in bigger wagons and more efficient locomotives can help resolve the problem to a certain extent. {/reg}