AusRAIL, Market Sectors

ARTC completes East West re-railing program

<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) has completed its re-railing program for 711km of track along the East West corridor between Parkes and Port Augusta. </span> <p>The project entailed replacing existing 47kg/m rail with new 60kg/m rail lengths along the 711km section of track to allow heavier trains use the corridor.</p><p>The 60kg/m rail, in combination with other recent infrastructure improvements on the corridor that included installation of concrete sleepers and ballast upgrades, will enable an increase in axle loads to 25 tonnes at 80km/h or 23 tonnes at 100km/h.</p><p>The higher axle loads will increase the efficiency of the daily higher axle load services operating along the route that carry steel products between Whyalla (SA) and Port Kembla and Newcastle (NSW) through Broken Hill and Parkes.</p><p>“Trains running on the Sydney to Perth corridor will benefit from the improved punctuality and reduced congestion due to the re-railing upgrades as well as recent concrete re-sleepering works, on one of the busiest interstate freight corridors in the country,” ARTC CEO John Fullerton said.</p><p>Rail is the dominant mode across the Australia’s East West freight corridor with double-stacked 1800m long trains extremely competitive against road transport.</p><p>ARTC’s $288m re-railing project was a part of a wider Federal Government Nation Building program investment to upgrade the interstate rail network between Parkes and Cootamundra and Broken Hill and Whyalla.</p>