Plan to merge Adelaide-Darwin link with inland rail

<p>Australian Inland Rail Expressway (AIRE) owner Everald Compton said this morning that he was looking at buying the troubled Adelaide-Darwin rail link and merging the two companies.</p> <p>Mr Compton, who also chairs the Australian Transport &#38 Energy Corridor, (ATEC) said today that he had put a proposal to the receivers and administrators of FreightLink, the owner operator of the Adelaide-Darwin line, to begin merger negotiations.</p> <p>Plans had already been made to secure capital funding and all that was required now was political support, he said.</p> <p>Prime minister Kevin Rudd, South Australian premier Mike Rann and Northern Territory chief executive Paul Henderson had all been contacted, he said.</p> <p>Mr Compton’s inland expressway, when completed, plans to run from Melbourne to Darwin.</p> <p>A significant feature of his merger proposal was an undertaking from ATEC to build a new standard gauge railway from Mt Isa to Tennant Creek which would carry considerable freight tonnages across to the Darwin railway from new mines in Queensland’s north west minerals province and the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory, destined for export through the port of Darwin, Mr Compton said.</p> <p>The Adelaide-Darwin rail project had proved a failure and had significantly delayed the inland rail corridor, he said.</p> <p>&#8220Thus, our well-founded plans to open new mines in Queensland and New South Wales and to build their rail access to ports was put on hold to the great detriment of Australia’s export income,&#8221 he said.</p> <p>&#8220Now, this debacle has severely damaged the credibility of all railways in Australia, but we will move forward with AIRE despite the world economic crisis as we now have a Queensland Government mandate for the Surat Basin Railway, from Toowoomba to Gladstone, which is the first section of our project.&#8221</p> <p>FreightLink went into receivership earlier in the month, with creditors owed about $500m.</p> <p>The embattled rail company put itself up for sale five months ago.</p> <p>&#8220Provided that we have the unreserved political backing that we need, this joint venture will become one of the nation’s success stories as the future of long-distance freight in Australia lies with rail, not road transport,&#8221 Mr Compton said. </p> <br />