PARKES MP Mark Coulton is hopeful the Melbourne-Brisbane Railway will feature in this year's federal budget.
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Mr Coulton met last week with Infrastructure Minister Darren Chester to reinforce the importance of the Inland Rail - which would pass through Narromine and Parkes, and said Mr Chester was responsive.
He said while there was no official commitment from the government, he is hopeful funding will be allocated to the project at the May budget.
"That is my hope, that's not a government promise," Mr Coulton said.
"I met with the new Infrastructure Minister Darren Chester and [Inland Rail Implementation Group chair] John Anderson to make sure that Darren was aware of the importance of the project, and he is.
"Work is being done now on a funding model and I am hopeful that we will see progress being made on this before too much longer."
The NSW Farmers' Association has urged the government to put its money where its mouth is, with the membership unanimously voting Inland Rail as their number one priority at an Executive Council Meeting in Dubbo this month.
"In light of the competed Inland Rail cost-benefit analysis, we are pushing for an immediate decision by the federal government," association president Derek Schoen said.
"The project needs to operate under open access principles, fully interoperable with branch lines and rolling stock to allow compatibility with lines to alternate ports. This is what will drive competition for farmers.
"We want government to carefully consider all the options available to guarantee the best result for farmers - ensuring maximum efficiency, newer rolling stock and fair and reasonable rail access fees."
Mr Coulton said regional centres would benefit from the $10 billion project, which is forecast to reap about $22.5 billion in benefits for the national economy.
"It will put the towns in Western NSW in contact with the major cities and hopefully it should be an incentive to businesses to come to regional NSW because they will have access to freight," Mr Coulton said.
"I think it is a wonderful opportunity for building the west of NSW and the cost-benefit analysis shows that there are benefits to building this.
"There has been a lot of work going into this. I'm very confident now that the work has been done to show the need for it."