Teams named for inland rail feasibility study

<p>Engineering and financial consultants have been signed to the $15m federal study into the feasibility of the inland rail link between Melbourne and Brisbane, the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) revealed this morning.</p> <p>Parsons Brinckerhoff with Connell Wagner and Halcrow will be the lead technical advisors, while PricewaterhouseCoopers with ACIL Tasman and SAHA have responsibility over the economic factors of the project.</p> <p>The federally commissioned study &#8211 a further step towards the goal of one-day rail freight services between the Queensland and Victorian capitals &#8211 will determine the preferred alignment and the probable success of the multi-billion dollar standard gauge inland railway if it did eventuate.</p> <p>Previous studies have shown an inland route could slash travel time for freight trains between Melbourne and Brisbane from 36 hours to 21 hours.</p> <p>The ARTC said the study should be completed by late 2009.</p> <p>&#8220In developing a detailed route alignment, the ARTC will generally follow the far western sub-corridor identified by the North-South Rail Corridor Study,&#8221 the rail corporation said.</p> <p>&#8220The ARTC study will build upon this earlier work and determine the optimum alignment of any future inland railway after taking into account the needs of potential users as well as possible engineering, planning and environmental considerations.&#8221 </p> <p>Funds for the study were earmarked in the 2007 Budget.</p> <br />