Major disruptions to Tasmanian rail freight services
Severe weather and flood damage on Tasmania’s North West Coast over the past few days has caused extensive damage to sections of TasRail’s railway network, resulting in major disruptions to Tasmanian rail freight services.
TasRail confirmed on the weekend that a large section of a bridge at Railton had been washed away, though train services resumed late Monday.
Heavy storms and floods had also damaged large sections of track on the Western line, particularly a 20km area east and west of Railton, and sections of the network between Deloraine and Devonport.
Train services operating on the Melba Line have been disrupted by a landslip that occurred near Ridgely yesterday morning. TasRail crews are working to stabilise the area and repair track infrastructure.
TasRail chief executive  Damien White said damage to some parts of the network is extensive, and delays to rail freight services are unavoidable.
Builders shortlisted for Regional Rail Link
Three consortiums interested in building the new passenger rail line between Deer Park and West Werribee for Victoria’s $4.3bn Regional Rail Link have been shortlisted.
The shortlisted consortiums are:
&bull    Abigroup Thiess JV
&bull    Fulton Hogan, John Holland & Coleman Rail JV and
&bull    Leighton Baulderstone JV.
Each of these joint ventures will now develop and submit fully costed proposals, with the final contract expected to be awarded in late 2011.
The successful consortium will be required to lay 25km of new track separating Geelong trains from metropolitan trains and removing a major cause of congestion and delays.
They will also be tasked with building new stations at Wyndham Vale and Tarneit as well as a bridge over the Werribee River and grade separations including the Deer Park Bypass so as to avoid the need for any new level crossings.
Beijing’s new maglev line
Beijing has begun construction of its first magnetic levitation line a 10.24km section of a new maglev railway line called the S1.
The new line, to extend from Shimenying in Mentougou district to Pingguoyuan in Shijingshan district, will reportedly use a low and medium-speed magnetic levitation technology and can run at a maximum speed of 105kp/h, according to ebeijing.gov.cn.
Completion of construction is targeted for the end of 2013
VIC grain supplies disrupted by flood
Victorian grain supplies will be disrupted as flooding affects railways and the quality of unharvested grain will also be affected by rain, GrainCorp reportedly said.
According to analysts, the cost of heavy rains that soaked Victoria after 12 years’ drought may not be known for weeks.
 
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