Inland Railway - Overview

Overview

The line would be standard gauge, except where it shares the alignment with the narrow gauge of Queensland, in which case the track would be dual gauge. Isolated sections of the line would be built with dual gauge sleepers to facilitate a change of gauge or conversion to dual gauge at a later date.

As well as providing for general freight and passenger trains, the line would open up coal and mineral deposits across Queensland which need access to heavy duty ports such as at Gladstone.

The Australian Rail Track Corporation and ATEC are equal partners in a joint venture company called Australian Inland Railway Expressway Pty Ltd (AIRE), which was established to develop the railway line between Victoria and Queensland.

In May 2009 preliminary analysis by the Australian Rail Track Corporation showed that the cheapest version of the inland railway would cost $2.8 billion to build and allow freight to be moved from Melbourne to Brisbane in just over 27 hours. Running from Melbourne via Albury to Cootamundra, Parkes, Narromine, Dubbo, Werris Creek and Moree to North Star near Goondiwindi in Queensland, new track would then have to be laid from North Star to Toowoomba and on to Brisbane. The analysis found that if operating by 2020 the economic costs would outweigh the benefits by $1.1 billion, or $860 million if environmental gains were taken into account.