After examining more than 50 options, the ARTC found the railway should follow existing rail lines from Melbourne via Albury to Cootamundra, Parkes, Narromine, Dubbo, Werris Creek and Moree to North Star near Goondiwindi, with new construction from North Star to Brisbane via Toowoomba.
North of Parkes the railway would require upgrading along parts of the existing route, including minor deviations to improve its alignment, the ARTC said.
The inland route would be 1,890 kilometres in length compared with the current 1,920 kilometre route via Sydney, and would have similar transit times to the route via Sydney, the ARTC said.
Initial cost estimates for the project range from $2.8 billion to $3.6 billion, and would largely be driven by building track over or under the difficult terrain from Toowoomba to Brisbane.
The ARTC is currently undertaking a $2.4 billion upgrade of the north-south rail corridor, building new passing lanes and loops between Brisbane and Melbourne, laying nearly 1,500 kilometres of new concrete sleepers and installing new signal technology. It has also made a request to Infrastructure Australia (IA) for an additional $4.9 billion to spend on the coastal corridor.
ARTC chief executive David Marchant said once the resleepering and passing lanes were completed, trains would enjoy improved transit times between Sydney and Melbourne of 10 hours 40 minutes, and between Sydney and Brisbane of 15 hours 35 minutes.
“Rail will be more than competitive again and as each 1,500-metre long train can replace 100 semi trailers and we could see less trucks on our major roads,” he said.
Opposition
The ARTC’s proposal has met opposition in a number of quarters.
Great Australia Trunk Railway (GATR) chairman and former QR chief executive Vince O’Rourke has called the ARTC proposal a “cheap and nasty” option.
“It appears they have simply looked for the quickest and easiest solution,” O’Rourke said.
“We have an opportunity to create one of the best rail networks in the world but this option will not deliver that.”
And Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail Alliance chairman Warwick Moppett told the New South Wales Shires Association annual conference the “hybrid” route would not meet time and load thresholds needed to make the line financially viable.
“Potentially, the current ARTC proposal will result in a rail line linking Melbourne and Brisbane that industry will not use because freight can be moved quicker and more economically via road,” Moppett said.
Source: Lloyd’s List Daily Commercial News – www.lloydslistdcn.com.au
To read Part Two of this story, click here.
 
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