Committee members, including Albury MP Justin Clancy and Cootamundra MP Steph Cooke, last month visited Wagga to inspect earthworks at the Riverina Intermodal Freight and Logistics Hub (RiFL) construction site.

Cr Conkey last week appeared via videolink at a hearing for an inquiry into the Inland Rail project and regional NSW run by Parliament's lower house Committee on Investment, Industry and Regional Development.

"My talk to the committee was basically on regional transport; it is critical to support Inland Rail and RiFL," Cr Conkey said.

"We have built $35 million worth of enabling roads in and around RiFL, so that's great access to that hub, especially under the rail line which eliminates a traffic blackspot.

"My presentation to the inquiry was about the critical need for really good connectivity to the facility, in particular, we need to have very strong links with Canberra and therefore the duplication of the Barton Highway needs to be fast-tracked."

The Inland Rail project was designed to improve 1700 kilometres of freight rail between Melbourne and Brisbane via regional NSW.

Cr Conkey said he also told the inquiry that the Sturt Highway to the west of Wagga lacked overtaking lanes between Wagga and Narrandera.

"I think that road needs serious work on it as well to provide better access from the west to Wagga and I also did mention that an upgrade to Brindabella Road from Tumut to Canberra should be considered to provide additional linkages from international air freight to Inland Rail."

Lockhart Shire Council provided a submission to the inquiry and stated that Inland Rail had the potential to encourage new investment and more traffic on the region's "very much underutilised" grain rail transport branch lines.

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Council general manager Peter Veneris stated in the submission that one such line that could benefit from Inland Rail was the line between from Boree Creek to The Rock, where it connects to the Sydney-Melbourne line to take grain to ports in Victoria or NSW.

"The branch line is currently light weight rail which will not allow wagons to be loaded to their maximum axle weight causing significant productivity loss for operators," the submission stated.

"This is compounded by recent upgrades to receival sites which have resulted in higher volumes of grain that needs to be transported to port.

"The current inefficiencies of the rail network also result in a higher proportion of grain being transported by road...Revitalising branch lines connecting to the Inland Rail and what will become the backbone of the rail freight network in NSW, will provide operational, economic, environmental and road safety benefits."

Riverina MP and federal Transport minister Michael McCormack last week announced that Wagga Council and Riverina Oils and Bio Energy would receive "Expert technical and commercial support" to develop an integration plan for RiFL.

The proposal was to develop a grain terminal and dedicated rail siding at the (RiFL) Hub with the potential to provide rail connectivity for Riverina Oils and Bio Energy (ROBE) to the Inland Rail network and improve freight efficiency.

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