Article: Moree to Toowoomba rail line given green light

[Jon Bryant]

Governments have backed a $900 million rail corridor capable of stripping the number of trucks on the Newell Highway.

The Australian Transport and Energy Corridor (ATEC) says many of the 3,000 trucks using the route daily will not be necessary once the 340km Border Railway linking Moree in north-west NSW to Toowoomba west of Brisbane is completed in 2014.

Planning will soon begin on the project after the Queensland and NSW governments endorsed the standard gauge railway.

ATEC Chairman Everald Comptom says the line will connect to the existing railway from Moree to Parkes that links with tracks to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

ATEC predicts the new project will carry 14 million tonnes of intermodal and bulk freight and will have 2-kilometre passing loops every 50 kilometres.

"This railway offers improved transit times for freight movements between Victoria, NSW and Queensland a more efficient means of transporting both general and bulk freight to the key growth areas of Newcastle and Gladstone," Compton says.

ATEC will construct the line as part of a consortium which involves Laing O?Rourke and the Inland Railway Trust.

ATEC is currently part of a consortium to develop the Surat Basin Railway, an open-access rail corridor linking Toowoomba to the Port of Gladstone.

Compton says ATEC is now in discussions with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to have the Border and Surat Basin railways declared as national lines linking the ports of Melbourne, Newcastle and Gladstone.


Supply Chain Review

Barnaby Joyce - Inland Rail, a vital link in a great vision. 

Today?s announcement by Australian Transport & Energy Corridor Limited to commence construction of a 340 kilometre rail corridor between Moree and Toowoomba is great news for Queensland and great news for Australia.

The Border railway, built at a cost of approximately $900 million will connect with the existing standard gauge railway at Moree establishing a rail freight corridor to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

The National Party has been a great supporter of the inland rail project and we commend Mr. Everald Compton on his diligence to this project and call now for the completion of a high speed gauge between Gladstone and Melbourne to increase internodal port activities connecting Perth to Gladstone.

Connecting the coal of Queensland to the wheat of northern NSW to the manufacturing of Melbourne, creating a corridor of commerce in a straight line between ports, will allow Australians the opportunity to head west at an affordable price and set up business with access to all these commercial centres by reason of a standard rail gauge.

Toowoomba to Moree is a vital link and now we must look at other links such as Narrabri to Coonamble and Toowoomba to Gladstone and Toowoomba through the range to Brisbane. If we are a smart country that builds things then let us build an inland rail.

If people wish to reduce carbon emissions there is no better way to do it than to get trucks off the road and onto rail.

From my maiden speech when I entered the Senate I have seen this as a visionary project for our nation and I commend the hard work of Mr. Compton and note that no one can steal his thunder from his almost solo perseverance to see this project happen.

Australian.to - World News

[somebody]

I think this plan is nutty.  Why are they stopping at Toowoomba?  If they're going to Brisbane, isn't there a better alignment than via Toowoomba? (I've heard the Cunningham Gap being suggested)  If they're going to Gladstone via the Wondoan-Banana link, how are they getting to Wondoan and from Banana?

If the money is to be spent on SG country rail, it would be better used fixing up Sydney-Newcastle by bypassing Gosford among other things.

[O_128]

yeh this really should be going to brisbane.

[ozbob]

Check out his perspective folks --> http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=1405.0

Cheers ...