Queensland Rail crews have spent the last few days connecting communities, with more than 2000 locals, emergency service personnel and representatives from essential service providers transported into Ingham across the Ollera Creek rail bridge on board special on track machinery.
The service, which has also assisted in the transportation of essential goods into Ingham, will continue to run until the permanent Bruce Highway bridge at Ollera Creek is open for the public to use.
Meanwhile, Queensland Rail’s hardworking teams have identified 164 defects along its North Coast line, including more than six kilometres of washouts and scouring, and another 13 defects on the Mount Isa line.
The damage to the Queensland Rail network due to the severe fooding is significant and with more rain forecast and muddy conditions impacting recovery efforts, a reopening date is still to be confirmed.
While repairs have already started in some areas, around 2,500 tonnes of ballast, multiple pieces of heavy machinery like excavators, and countless teams of people have been mobilised to the relevant locations to ensure work can get underway as soon as conditions allow.
Parts of Queensland Rail’s regional network remain closed including sections of the North Coast line, Mount Isa line, Central West line and Kuranda Range.
Freight and passenger services are unable to use these sections and customers have been informed directly of impacts.
Queensland Rail Head of Regional Scott Cornish said: “Queensland Rail is proud to connect communities and we are grateful to be able to help out locals with nearly 2000 people including emergency and essential services personnel taken across the Ollera Creek rail bridge, restoring this vital link into Ingham while works to the permanent Bruce Highway road bridge are underway.
“I also want to thank our hard-working teams who are working as quickly and as safely as possible to restore our rail network, which has suffered significant damage as a result of this severe weather system.
“We know how important our regional network is for both freight and passenger services, so rest assured we will have these back up and running as soon as we can.”
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