Rail route decision at least a year away
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It will be at least a year before a decision is made on the route the proposed Melbourne to Brisbane inland railway would take through the Riverina.
The options are via Shepparton and Narrandera or Albury and Wagga Wagga.
About 50 people heard details of the Federal Government-commissioned study into the project at a forum in Wagga Wagga yesterday.
Dale Budd from the Australian Rail Track Corporation, which is doing the study, says it is not certain the railway will even go ahead.
"The optimum route will be determined on the basis of engineering and financial and economic analysis," he said.
"The study is due fro completion in August next year. I think at the very best you'd be looking at six or seven years from when we finish the study and that's probably fairly optimistic.
"So we're well into the next decade before this railway would be running and that is if a decision is made to proceed forthwith."
