Government will work to determine costs and timeline for troubled Inland Rail project

Infrastructure Minister Catherine King on Thursday accepted all 19 recommendations made by a damning review into the freight line to link Melbourne and Brisbane.

She blasted the Liberal Nationals' management of the project as "one almighty mess".

"We're up for the job, but that job starts today," she said.

The 1087 kilometre line was formerly led by Barnaby Joyce in his capacity as Infrastructure minister, but only 16 per cent of the track has been completed so far.

The government will now work to complete the project, as well as to determine the costs and timeline.

The report, prepared by Energy Security Board chair Kerry Schott, found costs had blown out to more than $31 billion, due to mismanagement and failures of governance, board oversight and risk and project management.

Dr Schott said she was astonished to find the estimated cost had blown out from $16.4 billion to $31.4 billion between 2020 and 2022.

But uncertainty surrounding the project means costs could continue to grow.

"I got to the point, when I looked at it more closely, that I don't actually accept either of those figures," she said.

"Because the reality is that there's so much uncertainty about it, that I just felt I couldn't really believe those numbers.

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"For a government that puts you in a pretty tricky position because you've started a very big project, you don't know when it's going to finish, and you don't know how much it's going to cost.

"So the recommendations that I made are basically aimed at the work that needs to be done to get to the bottom of both those big questions."

The benefits of the project and the costs sunk into it, informed the decision to progress the plan, Ms King said.

"The real aim of this is about getting as many refrigerated trucks off the road as we can, into a more carbon friendly transport mode and that's really what the benefits of this project are," she said.

The project was slated to be completed in 2027, but Ms King dismissed this projection as "complete and utter fiction".

"I'm not going to put a date on it ... I'd be doing exactly what the previous government did, just making it up," she said.

"It's going to take longer than 2027, it is absolutely clear that that date was that was a fiction, a complete and utter fiction."

A statement from the office of Nationals spokesperson for Infrastructure Bridget McKenzie said the review "vindicated the importance of the Inland Rail project".

"The Opposition will continue to urge the Albanese government to get on with the job of completing the Parkes to Melbourne section by 2027, as recommended by Dr Schott," they said.

The spokesperson pointed to Dr Schott's observation in the review that state governments were yet to decide the end points of the rail route.

They said the Albanese government should address this.

The government will now focus on delivering Inland Rail from Beveridge in Victoria to Parkes in New South Wales.

It will also appoint an independent cost estimator and value engineer to determine the updated cost and schedule for the program.

New governance arrangements have been introduced at the Australian Rail Track Corporation, the body overseeing the project, including the appointment of Peter Duncan, as the new chair, and Dr Collette Burke as a non-executive director.

A chief executive will also be appointed.

The Australasian Railway Association urged the swift implementation of recommendations, in order to provide certainty to rail freight operators and the wider supply chain.

"Continued uncertainty about the project will make it harder for freight operators to plan and for complimentary businesses to invest along the route," chief executive officer Caroline Wilkie said.

"It is therefore critical that the implementation of the review's recommendations does not distract from work already underway and provides a clearer path forward for the remainder of the project."

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