The Moura System services the industrial and rural communities of the Dawson and Callide Valleys in Central Queensland. The systems coal is transported to Gladstone Power Station, Comalco Aluminium Refinery, Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) and the Port of Gladstone.
Queensland Rail (QR) is project managing the Moura Link to Aldoga Rail project which is upgrading the Blackwater Rail system to meet future demand and to coincide with the completion of the Wiggins Island Coal Terminal in 2012.
In addition, QR is also part of the Surat Basin Rail, Dawson Valley Railway to Wandoan to Banana rail network upgrade which will create a direct rail link to the Port of Gladstone with the aim of coinciding with the Wiggins Terminal. It is a joint venture project between ATEC DVR, IM DVR, Xstrata Coal, Anglo Coal and QR.
In 2007, QR became a Company Government Owned Corporation and is now registered as a public company – QR Limited. It is focused on five major business segments: freight coal passengers network and services.
QR Network is a rail infrastructure business that serves the coal, freight, intermodal and passenger markets. The business has a 10,000 kilometre network 1,000 people across Queensland $6 billion in assets, which make up 45 per cent of QR Limiteds assets $7 billion capital investment planned and over the next five years 180m tonnes freight, 60 million passenger journeys a year 1,000 train movements per day.
An overview of coal production in Queensland indicates that from humble beginnings in the early 1960s up until today, there has been a steady growth in coal produced, said Dall.
There has been significant growth in the last 10 years and further significant growth is forecast for the next 10 years.
Obviously the global events of recent months have raised questions about future growth forecasts. This is the market place in which QR Network finds itself, said Dall.
We have a large program of works planned and some big decisions to make about the timing of those plans.
A close look at the 10 year horizon from 2004 indicates and increase in production of around 40 per cent. Interestingly across the last 5 years, there has only been around a 15% increase.
Forecast increase for the next five years are around 30 per cent.
The QR Network coal systems infrastructure is comprised of four separate systems: Newlands, Goonyella, Blackwater and Moura.
This accounts for approximately 2450kms of track, 47 Coal mines, five export terminals, and seven domestic terminals. Cyclic coal traffic dominates the system, but there is also freight and passenger services throughout the entire central Queensland network.
In the network we call the Capricornia Coal Chain (CCC) based on Gladstone, coal haulage makes up a significant part of Queenslands coal production, said Dall.
Last year around 60 million tonnes of coal was hauled in the Capricornia Coal Chain. And forecasts are predicting that haulage to expand to over 100 million tonnes in the next five years.
The CCC is comprised of the Blackwater and Moura systems. It has approximately 1166km of track, of which 724 is electrified. There are 18 operational mines, which rail coal to five domestic and two export terminals. The average speed of Rollingstock is 80km/hr with a 26.5 tare axle load. The System is controlled by remote control signalling.
To read the rest of this report on Ian Dalls presentation, see next weeks Rail Express Newswire.
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