The federal government has made an $10 billion commitment to an inland rail line – but the country might not have the expertise to build it.
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University of Wollongong’s Prof Buddhima Indraratna said rail engineering isn’t broadly taught on a tertiary level, which could cause a problem with rail engineers now working in the industry are approaching retirement.
“We have a huge gap here in Australia where we don’t have young professionals who are properly trained in the area of railway engineering, especially tracks,” Prof Indraratna said.
“We really don’t know how to build the tracks.”
That’s where a new $6 million University of Wollongong training centre comes in.
The Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Advanced Technologies in Rail Track Infrastructure aims to take PhD students and give them the skills they need to design and construct rail lines.
This would stop the need to import the knowledge to build Australia’s rail line.
“Due to the dependency of the Australian economy on efficient heavy haul, there is a pressing need to upgrade ageing rail infrastructure by rejuvenating higher degree training with a new generation of engineers with advanced knowledge and practice skills,” Prof Indraratna said.
