In support of inland rail

[mufreight]

Finally after a gestation period of too many years the Inland railway might finally see the light of day; unfortunately under present proposals it seems that political expediency and vested interests will place rail at a competitive disadvantage against road.
Present proposals will route the line from North Star in New South Wales to Carrington (east of Goondiwindi) then follow the alignment of the QR line east as far as Inglewood then turn north as a new right of way to Millmerran to join the QR alignment there to Toowoomba and follow the QR alignment from there to Ebenezer then cross country to join the standard gauge line into Acacia Ridge at Kagaru. 
A line that if built will be some 80km longer and at best 2 hours slower than the alternative of a line continuing east along the QR alignment from Inglewood to Thane then passing to the north of Warwick through the range in the vicinity of Spicers Gap to join the standard gauge line into Acacia Ridge between Bromelton and Tamrookum. 
By routing the line via Toowoomba rail will lose some of the competitive advantage it could have against road, and this proposal only calls for the construction of the line to an interim freight terminal.
Any argument that the line should be routed via Toowoomba to connect with the Surat basin line via Miles, Wandoan and Banana to Gladstone is less than valid as it would add some 232km and six hours of transit time to the journey from the border to Gladstone again definitely not to the advantage of rail in competition with road   
The difference that the inland rail link could make to freight transport in Australia in terms of freight costs, savings of oil fuel and greenhouse emissions and the further potential reduction of road freight
that the shorter rail route would create.
The current route by rail from Gorbang Junction to Acaia Riodge is some 1600km, an inland rail link using existing rail links from Gorbang Junction to Acacia Ridge via Toowoombe would be 1235km while a route via Warwick be some 1165km which would be a saving of some 435km and at least 10 hours of transit time.
Rail freight between Melbourne and Brisbane would be faster and trains could be longer and heavier, passing loops on the line north of Maitland to Acacia Ridge are currently being extended to handle 1500m long trains and speeds and train sizes are both restricted by both curvature and grades.
The alignment of the existing line north of Narrabri to North Star could be easily upgraded to the standards needed for the operation of intermodial, double stacked trains of 2000m length at higher speeds (up to 160kmph) and the new construction from North Star to where the line would join the existing standard gauge line at Tamrookum could be built to 21st century standards which would further reduce transit times.
The length of the line could be further reduced by the construction of a new line from Narrabri south direct to Narromine which would reduce the rail distance by better than 100km and further reduce transit times.
A 21st century line stretching from Gobang Junction to Acacia Ridge would make rail more than competitive with road in transit times and costs for freight out of Melbourne, Adelaide, Whyalla and the west which would reduce the numbers of heavy road transport units on our highways as has happened on the east west freight haul.

[ozbob]

A well constructed point of view mufreight. Thanks.

Must say I agree that there are better routes than via Toowoomba.

[SteelPan]

But, you miss the point of the INLAND Railway.  Why oh why, would you want to see more freight brought into the Brisbane metro system.  Toowoomba is well located to service SE Qld/Nthn NSW's.  Do the residents of Brisbane and the State Govt want to see more rail freight to the Port of Brisbane, NO. 

Gladstone is an awesome Port and a heavy industry town.  Australian's have a fixation with capital citiy ports and pay every day the price for their overcrowded inefficency.  Look at Sydney, Port Botany fights the city of Sydney every day regards capacity and access issues, whilst Port Kembla is a shadow of what it could be.

Also, it has been researched 10 times over, the horse flogged to death and flogged again, the Warwick option does not measure up next to Toowoomba.  Anyone can quote km lengths of track for the shortest route, but wherever the track goes, it must aim to pay its way and Toowoomba with a link into the proposed Surat Coal Line is by far the best bet.

[mufreight]

To Steelpan,
One must wonder how much practical involvement you have had in the transport industry?
Point 1  The current primary destination of most freight entering Queensland is Brisbane which is the states distribution centre.
Point 2  The current proposal is for the line to terminate at Toowoomba, this will have two primary effects, it will mitigate against rail in competition with road thus more freight will move from rail to road.
Point 3  The capacity of the road system is not capable of catering for the needs of an additional 5000 + tonnes of freight daily between Toowoomba and Brisbane which works out to some 750 additional B double movements in each direction over a section of road that insurance statistics show already has the highest accident and fatality count in the country.
Point 4  There is no intention at this stage to take the standard gauge through to Gladstone and in any case if Gladstone is to be the final destination for the standard gauge line then why add an additional 227 km to the journey.  The logical route would be from Goondiwindi north to Miles, logic would indicate that if coal for instance were to be railed from the Ashford field near the border then that additional mileage would lengthen the transit time by some 4 hours, for a 3500tonne train the consumption of some 3975lt more fuel and produce some 13.5 tonnes more greenhouse emissions.
If coal from the fields of the Downs which under the current proposals will be railed on narrow gauge west to Miles then north to Babana and then east to Gladstone were to be carried on standard gauge then the line east from Miles could be dual gauged, if Toowoomba has need of a standard gauge connetcion then that dual gauge could be continued into Toowoomba which would add an additional 60km to freight for Toowoomba rather than via Millmeran, the volume of freight destined for Toowoomba is insignificant by comparison with freight destined for either Gladstone or Brisbane.
The construction of a line down the range from Toowoomba would effectively preclude either the double stacking of containers or the electrification of the QR line west of Rosewood.
If built as a line via Warwick the alignment and grades of the existing QR line from Goodwindi east as far as Thane (west of Warwick) are favourable, as they are from Thane east to the main range in the vicinity of Spicers Gap, if built as a greenfield construction a better alignment and grades is possible than could be obtained between Inglewood and Toowoomba following the QR alignment between Millmeran and Toowoomba.
The tunnel through the main range would be shorter, the grade and alignment passing to the north of Boonah to connect with the existing standard gauge line in the vicinity of Tamrookum is favourable for high speed operation of intermodal trains, while the distance is shorter into Acacia Ridge by some 80km the transit times would be some 2 hours shorter than via Toowoomba saving fuel, generating less emissions and more competitive with road.
There are probably other points that I have missed but this will do for starters, I hope that this clears the air a little.
Cheers