Re: [Vic/Qld/NSW] Inland railway to Brisbane

["Peter Berrett" <pberrett@optushome.com.au>]

This holds interesting possibilities.

Could the XPT use the track as far as Wagga to shave some time off its
journey to Sydney?

Also it holds the possibility of 200 kph passenger trains to Sydney if an
adjoining line spurring off to Sydney was upgraded. It would be much cheaper
than a TGV.line to upgrade the NSW track from Wagga to Sydney.

cheers Peter




"James C." <james_ccj@optusnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:3aed2758$0$25491$7f31c96c@news01.syd.optusnet.com.au...
> http://www.theage.com.au/business/2001/04/30/FFXU93PO3MC.html
>
> Inland link to Brisbane 'no longer a dream'
>
> By PHILIP HOPKINS
> Monday 30 April 2001
>
> Construction of the $1.4 billion Melbourne to Brisbane inland railway will
> begin in October this year, according to the project's organisers.
>
> The rail line, which will chiefly carry freight, will also have the
capacity
> to run fast passenger-tilt trains.
>
> The chairman of Australian Transport & Energy Corridor, Everald Compton,
> said Macquarie Bank was raising the capital, a mixture of debt and equity,
> for the rail line, which has the backing of several Victorian businessmen.
>
> Mr Compton said the winning consortium to build the project, known as the
> Australian Inland Rail Expressway, would be announced at the end of May.
> Seven groups had put in a tender.
>
> "The Australian Inland Rail Expressway is no longer a dream. It will be
> built and it will commence in October of this year. We know that we can
get
> the finance. Nothing will stop it," he said.
>
> ATEC, the small management company driving the project, would also be
> floated on the Australian Stock Exchange next year, he said.
>
> ATEC's Victorian shareholders include the agribusiness leader Doug Shears;
a
> former senior National Australia Bank executive, Cliff Breeze, now
retired;
> the head of FCL Interstate Transport Services in Footscray, Bill Gibbins;
> and the owner of Ardmona Fruits in Shepparton, Santo Varapodio.
>
> The company plans to symbolically drive the first spike into the ground at
> the McIntyre River near Goondiwindi on October 26, and construction is
> expected to be finished in 2004.
>
> The chief executive of Melbourne Port Corporation, Chris Whitaker, said
the
> Melbourne-Brisbane rail link would open up new export opportunities for
> inland agricultural producers and generate additional business for the
Port
> of Melbourne. "It will be of especial benefit to regional Victoria," he
> said.
>
> The route from Melbourne will run on the standard gauge track via Seymour
> and Albury-Wodonga through the inland New South Wales towns of Wagga
Wagga,
> Parkes, Dubbo, Narrabri, and Moree, and in Queensland, through Goondiwindi
> to Toowoomba.
>
> The Melbourne-Toowoomba sector, which will cost $800 million, includes two
> freight hubs and involves reconstructing existing track.
>
> At a later stage, a new track will be built through Shepparton, in the
> Goulburn Valley, and Narrandera, in the Riverina, to link with the
existing
> track.
>
> Stage one of the project now includes an extension to Gladstone because of
> the Queensland Government's intention to develop Gladstone as a major coal
> export port.
>
> The total estimated cost of the Melbourne to Gladstone railway, with a
link
> to the Port of Brisbane, is $2 billion, including the cost of building
> freight hubs at Parkes and Toowoomba.
>
> Parkes, where the Perth-Sydney line will cross the Melbourne-Brisbane
line,
> will become a major storage and distribution centre, equidistant from four
> capital cities.
>
> The Toowoomba-Gladstone sector, for which studies are now under way, is
> estimated to cost $550 million. Mr Compton said this would be financially
> viable in the medium to long-term when three new coal mines in the Surat
> Basin came on stream, but may need zero-coupon government loans in the
> initial years.
>
> Stage One will consist of a standard-gauge railway that will carry
> double-stacked trains, 1600 metres long, from Melbourne to Gladstone, with
a
> similar gauge linking Toowoomba and Brisbane.
>
> Mr Compton said he was confident the inland rail freight route would prove
> more economical and faster than road freight. Rail had currently less than
> 20per cent of the Melbourne-Brisbane freight traffic. "Feasibility studies
> show that we can get up to 47 per cent by rail, and higher as we go on."
>
> Mr Compton said the freight trains would initially travel at about 115kmh,
> which was faster than trucks were legally allowed to go. This would make
the
> rail trip from Melbourne to Brisbane just under 30 hours, depending on
> freight.
>
> However, as the track was progressively upgraded with new bridges and the
> elimination of bends, freight trains would be able to travel up to 160kmh,
> giving a travel time to Brisbane of less than 20 hours.
>
> Mr Compton said the route could take faster passenger tilt trains such as
> those now used between Brisbane and Rockhampton. Speeds of more than
200kmh
> were possible.
>
>
>
> He said building the rail line would create 10,000 new jobs.
>
> In addition, a report from the Bureau of Transport Economics has said the
> Melbourne-Brisbane line would return economic benefits to the nation of
> eight dollars for every dollar spent in building the track.
>
> "Having said that, the long-term financial viability of the inland rail
> expressway and the economic future of the inland will depend on industrial
> development along its route," Mr Compton said. To this end, Telstra
> Countrywide had agreed to join ATEC's campaign.
>
> Mr Compton said inland industries would seek tax concessions from federal,
> state and local governments. "We intend to lobby heavily for those
> concessions, based on job creation. The more people employed by an
industry,
> the larger the tax rebates should be," he said.
>
> "The cost to governments of these concessions will be less than the wasted
> hand-outs of the past, which were designed to keep the bush quiet but
never
> ever did.
>
> "The very existence of this railway will create an economic revolution in
> rural Australia as industries move from our capital cities out to the rail
> track to join new ones."
>
> Mr Compton said ATEC's long-range, unshakeable commitment was to build a
> railway linking Darwin with the eastern states.
>
> "We applaud the fact that the Adelaide-Darwin Railway is about to get
under
> way and we look forward to meeting them at Tennant Creek, where our trains
> will add to the financial viability of their track" and create "a direct
> standard gauge railway link between Perth and Townsville".
>
>
> <<<<<<<<<<
> Interesting enough, now the project would make Darwin-Alice Spring railway
> feasible!
> >>>>>>>
>
> Cheers
> James
>
>
>