North Coast Line Capacity Improvement (NCLCI) project

[ozbob]

23 September 2015

RTI 135-03794

North Coast Line Capacity Improvement (NCLCI) project

https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/-/media/aboutus/rti/disclog/2015/135-03794-release_Part1.pdf

[Stillwater]

"There is no DO NOTHING option in respect of contestable intermodal freight on the NCL, if rail is to have a future on this corridor. There remains very significant legacy infrastructure, including 61 old timber bridges (with a total length of 2.6 km), and a similar number of steel deck bridges, some of which are nearing the end of their useful lives. These will incur increasing maintenance cost and similarly increasing risk of failure, and some currently impose severe operating constraints (speed restrictions) due to their condition and sub-standard alignments. Likewise the rail systems (signalling and telecommunications systems) on the corridor are predominantly of 1980s and 1990s vintage, with increasing risk of obsolescence, hard-to-source spare parts, and higher likelihood of service failures. An on-going investment in asset renewals will be essential to maintain the safety integrity and operational reliability of the corridor."

They are damned by their own words.