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In 1970, the Victorian Government appointed Sir Henry Bland to be a Board to inquire into, report upon, and make recommendations concerning the existing system of land transport in Victoria (with the exception of passenger transport in metropolitan Melbourne and the urban areas of Ballarat, Bendigo, and Geelong).
This was the first major report since a report on 21-7-1933 into transport regulation by the Transport Regulation Board.
A public sitting was held in Mildura on 7-5-1971 with submissions made by Sunraysia Transport Operators Association and Mildara Wines Limited.
A submission by Sunraysia Transport Operators was critical of Mildura's rail service and made the following points:
* the growth of road transport in the area highlighted the inadequacy of the rail service;
* the biggest freight requirements into or out of the area is produce;
* the Sunraysia district has some 4,000 fruit and vegetable growers, some at distances up to 30 miles from a railhead, forwarding possibly an annual tonnage of 50,000 to the wholesale market in Melbourne;
* it was essential that this produce arrived at its destination in the freshest possible condition to enable the grower to maintain price structures and consumer demand on a strong buyer's market ;
* road transport could best provide that transport from the grower's property to market with a minimum of double handling;
* under present law, vehicles carrying goods in Victoria are not permitted to travel faster than 30 miles per hour in built up areas and 40 miles per hour elsewhere;
* the "Fruit Flier" receives little grower support. The train leaves Mildura at 4.30 p.m., arrives in Melbourne at approximately 3.30 a.m., but produce does not reach the market until 6.a.m..
The Bland Report was tabled in parliament on 29-3-1972 and made a number of recommendations to progressively extend the scope for free competition between rail and road modes. The report made the point that "a truly competitive environment will only exist if road and rail transport bear their real costs or are equally placed in relation to their costs after taking into account community subsidies".
In its recommendations on Railways, the report covered railway policy and administration, personnel, goods traffic, passenger traffic, and transport regulation of goods and passengers.
This history of mallee railways does not detail the Bland Report in full, however there are several recommendations that, with the benefit of historical hindsight, are worth noting:
* Railways should function primarily as a commercial undertaking.
* The present (1972) Railways administration should be converted to an appropriate type of corporate structure headed by a mixed governing Board, comprising men from business and high executives from the Railway service, including a Chief Executive, under a part-time outside Chairman.
* Staff should be recruited from outside the railway service to make good deficiencies in expertise in specialised areas, e.g. financial management, cost accounting, marketing etc.
Railways should make proposals for:
* Closing of lines;
* Closing of stations with those leading to the greatest overall saving to be put first.
* There should be an extension of "freight forwarding" arrangements to intrastate centres and/or establishment of "Regional Freight Centres".
* Steps should be taken to restrict services to limited periods on unprofitable seasonal lines which cannot be closed altogether.
* A detailed study of wheat movements (in conjunction with the Grain Elevators Board) should be undertaken, particularly regarding the use of GJX wagons and "merry-go-round" trains.
* Rights to operate own road vehicles should be sought in areas where local carriers are charging exorbitant rates.
* Changes to further increase the utilisation of rolling stock should be pursued. This will enable accelerated scrapping of antiquated vehicles that are costly to maintain.
Railways should make proposals for:
* withdrawal of passenger services on specific lines;
* closure of intermediate stations to passenger traffic on other lines.
These proposals should include the elimination of country passenger services other than between Melbourne and Sale, Leongatha, Geelong, Serviceton, Mildura, Bendigo, Tocumwal and Albury, except that services of reduced frequency would be retained between Geelong and Warrnambool, and between Bendigo and Swan Hill.
The fleet of non-air conditioned country passenger stock should be reduced to a level required for regular traffic. Peak holiday requirements should be partly met by buses.
* With the exception of services beyond Geelong, bus services which take over from rail should not run through to Melbourne but should co-ordinate with rail at appropriate locations.
Co-ordinated services should be designed so as to maximise the utilisation of buses and minimise inconvenience to travellers.
* In appropriate cases, licences for buses which replace rail services should be granted to interstate bus operators provided their vehicles are registered.
* Buses should be permitted to operate during abnormal traffic peaks in conjunction with the Railways.
* Buses should no longer be exempt from Road Maintenance Charge.
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