While our freight plan Delivering the Goods contains a number of initiatives to encourage growth in rail freight, the road network will continue to play a dominant role in the freight task.
Victoria relies more heavily on road transport because the Victorian freight landscape is so complex. The state’s exports are broadly scattered, resulting in a freight task comprising countless pick-up points and a variety of freight types.
To meet this challenge, Victoria maintains an intricate supply chain that connects with every farm gate and primary producer throughout the state.
The growth of larger vehicles that can carry more freight is essential in ensuring that the capacity of Victoria’s road network expands without exponentially increasing the number of heavy vehicles on our roads.
Delivering the Goods emphasises the importance of ongoing productivity improvements in the movement of freight.
The implementation of those improvements is contained in Moving More with Less 2021, Victoria’s HPFV plan, detailing how Victoria will get the next generation of newer, cleaner, safer, and more productive vehicles onto key freight corridors.
Victoria promotes broader access to the freight network by encouraging the industry to adopt a suite of reference vehicle designs. Each design has access to a pre-approved network of HPFV routes. More reference vehicle designs and expanded networks are continually developed.
A reference design on a pre-approved network accelerates the permit process by providing automatic road manager consent.
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Network and maps(opens in a new window)
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Farmer and agricultural information (opens in a new window)
Heavy vehicle industry(opens in a new window)
Over dimensional load rail permits
Class 1 and 3 Structural Assessment Cost-Recovery - Information Sheet June 2024
Updated