Inland Rail business opportunities for Narrabri, Moree, regional NSW says Barnaby Joyce

“It only had a few thousand people, now it’s got more than six million,” the New England MP said.

“Most of that growth is attributed through economic activity to the rail line. We can partially emulate that in our western towns.”

Mr Joyce said the government’s recent budget commitment of $8.4 billion to build the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail would bring previously unthought of business opportunities to the towns it runs past, such as Narrabri and Moree, and their neighbouring regions.

“It’s a huge win for regional NSW,” Mr Joyce said.

“It will be one of the greatest single mechanisms through inland Australia we will ever see.”

Once his political career draws to an end, the deliver of the Inland Rail is something he’ll look back on as a crowning achievement.

“I’ve seen so many other government’s talk about it, do surveys about it, do promises around it, but they’ve never put the money on the table like we have,” Mr Joyce said.

Narrabri Chamber of Commerce president Russell Stewart said the rail had been a long time coming.

“At times we thought it was never going to happen,” Mr Steward said.

“But here it is. It’s going to be great for everyone. I can’t see any downsides for anybody.

“Initially we won’t see a whole lot. But as time goes on, we should see industries start to decentralise.”

There was already a “huge amount” of preparation being done by private enterprises and Narrabri Shire Council, Mr Stewart said.

“Lots of meetings and liaisons, lots of strategies being developed locally in Narrabri,” he said.

Narrabri mayor Cathy Redding said she was delighted to hear of the budget commitment.

“It is fantastic to see this important national piece of infrastructure being a major component in this budget,” Cr Redding said.

“The proposed rail line runs directly through Narrabri Shire, and with the world-class agricultural product being grown here, provides our agricultural sector with great opportunities to improve efficiencies and reliability in getting their product to port in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Newcastle.”