The Commonwealth has come to the table to revive the Murray Basin Rail Project, and thrown down the gauntlet to the Victorian Government to standardise the network.

An additional $195 million has been committed for the freight rail project from the Federal Government that was called for in an updated business case.

The revised business case proposes the Sea Lake and Manangatang lines both be left as broad gauge.

The Commonwealth now wants the Andrews Government to match its commitment of $5 million for planning to standardise the entire network.

To find out more, rural editor Eddie Summerfield caught up with Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack:

Listen to the full interview above, and Subscribe to the National Rural News podcast: http://bit.ly/RuralNewsPodcast