Federal opposition leader Anthony Albanese called for the Commonwealth government to take charge of train manufacturing as part of his budget reply speech on Thursday evening.
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This could be good news for Ballarat's Alstom factory, which currently builds Melbourne's metropolitan trains and employs about 70 workers.
However, in the past 15 months there have been repeated rallies for the state government to continue building trains at the Creswick Road site, with fears work will run out without a renewed order - the company, based in France, has been designing the next generation of metro trains, the X'Trapolis 2.0.
The company relies on the state government to continually order new trains to keep its employees in work, though many have been moved to maintenance and cleaning roles at the Bombardier plant in Ballarat East.
More recently, scandal erupted after the state government was accused of using a blacklisted Chinese company to construct its new high-capacity metro trains, which would use the new Metro Tunnel.
Elsewhere, there was anger in NSW at new trains not being able to fit through tunnels.
FROM 2016: Alstom misses out on HCMT project
In a media release, Ballarat MP Catherine King said if elected, a federal Labor government would create a National Rail Manufacturing Plan, to "ensure federal funding spent on rail projects boosts local jobs and industry", and bring more stability to train manufacturing jobs in Ballarat.
"Currently, Australia's state-based rail manufacturing sector is fragmented, inefficient and disconnected, leading to a 'boom and bust' cycle within the industry that hurts workers and businesses," she said in a statement..
"The next two decades will see significant investment in rail infrastructure across Australian passenger, freight and light rail networks.
"Despite this significant pipeline of work, the Prime Minister's manufacturing announcement this month failed to recognise the importance of rail manufacturing.
"Labor's National Rail Manufacturing Plan will ensure the full benefit of this public spending goes towards creating Australian jobs - from laying the rails to manufacturing the trains."
According to the media release, the plan involves establishing an Office of National Rail Industry Coordination within the Department of Industry, undertaking a national audit and developing priority plans; reinstating the Rail Supplier Advocate to help smaller businesses identify export opportunities; and establish a Rail Industry Innovation Council "to prevent the loss of more jobs and address the need for more local research and development, skills and capabilities".
The federal government committed hundreds of millions to regional rail in Victoria in Tuesday night's budget, though little for Ballarat, with $30 million allocated to continue work on the Western Rail Plan to quadruplicate and electrify the line to Melton.
The state government has completed major construction work on the $500 million Ballarat Line Upgrade, which involved new passing loops and rebuilt stations, including at Wendouree.
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