Major supermarkets Coles and Woolworths have swiftly mobilised extra road freight to maintain supply lines into Western Australia, following a significant train derailment that has severed a crucial national rail link in South Australia.
Derailment Disrupts Cross-Continental Freight
The incident occurred late on Tuesday, 6 January 2026, when a freight train partially left the tracks on the East West rail corridor north of Port Pirie, in South Australia's mid-north region. The derailment caused extensive damage to the line, effectively blocking rail services on key routes including Sydney to Perth, Melbourne to Perth, and Adelaide to Darwin.
Operator the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) has indicated that repairs are underway, with services anticipated to resume by Saturday evening, 10 January. However, the corporation has warned that extreme heat conditions in South Australia this week could potentially slow down the repair efforts.
Supermarkets Activate Contingency Plans
In response to the transport bottleneck, both supermarket giants have activated their contingency plans to ensure Western Australian stores remain supplied. A Coles spokesman confirmed the company had experienced no major impacts for WA customers to date, with deliveries already redirected via road.
"We are keeping a close eye on the situation, but have plenty of stock already in WA to keep our stores stocked," the spokesman said.
Woolworths highlighted a significant $100 million investment in its Perth warehouse, which has increased its storage capacity and created a vital buffer for such transport disruptions. A spokeswoman stated the company would draw on this additional local stock to minimise the impact of delayed deliveries from the eastern states.
"Additionally, most of the meat, fruit, vegetables and eggs sold in our WA stores come from right here in WA," she added, underscoring the state's local produce network.
Calls for Greater Infrastructure Resilience
The disruption has sparked renewed calls from industry leaders for the Federal Government to increase investment in the nation's critical transport infrastructure. Western Roads Federation chief executive Cam Dumesny said the event highlighted the vulnerability of key links between WA, South Australia, and the Northern Territory to increasing climatic impacts.
"The great advantage of the logistics industry is that it just gets on and fixes problems. The great weakness of the industry is it just gets on and fixes problems," Mr Dumesny remarked. "If people aren’t seeing the shelves bare then it’s not a political concern."
He noted that both Coles and Woolworths had invested heavily in upgrading their WA warehouses and building buffer stocks, which, combined with hiring more trucks, was expected to result in minimal disruption for consumers.
This is not the first time the trans-Australian rail line has been compromised. In early 2024, the line was damaged by floodwaters near Rawlinna, marking the second such incident in two years and causing similar supply concerns for supermarkets. Under CEO Leah Weckert, Coles has previously advocated for upgrades to the trans-Australia rail line, after on-time delivery rates to its Perth distribution centre slumped to nearly 50 per cent in March 2024 following earlier disruptions.
