2006 budget delivers xtra $2.3b

Looks like a potentially busy year ahead for NHR afterall bol,coa and lei can't possibly do all the work and demand for NHR equipment ie.from the cat rental stores,allight,ah plant,caterpillar and other stores over the coming years should be at high levels when combined with the current commodities boom as well

$2.3bn for road, rail networks
From: AAP
May 09, 2006
ONE of the nation's busiest highways will become a double-lane expressway three years ahead of schedule as part of a $2.3-billion spending spree on the nation's road and rail links.

The Government is pumping an extra $2.3 billion into its national land transport infrastructure program AusLink – upping funding by almost 20 per cent in the next four years.
A third of the money – $800 million – will be spent on the Hume Highway that links Sydney and Melbourne, bringing forward the completion date for making the entire road a dual carriageway from 2012 to 2009.

The work will focus on 108km of the road in southern NSW which remains single lane each way.

Other roads are getting significant funding injections, including $220 million for Queensland's Bruce Highway between Townsville and Cairns, and $323 million to improve Western Australia's Great Eastern, Great Northern and Eyre highways.

Eastern states' rail infrastructure is also a big winner, with an extra $270 million before the end of the current financial year allocated to upgrade track quality and improve rail speed on the line between Melbourne and Brisbane.