13 Oct 07
Long time proponent of the inland railway Everald Compton has moved a step closer to fulfilling his dream of building a rail link across the Queensland-NSW border. Mr Compton announced plans that his company, Australian Transport & Energy Corridor (ATEC) would build the 400km link at a total cost of $700 million.
He anticipated the service from Moree to Toowoomba would have freght trains operating on it by 2013. To be known as the Border Railway, the building of the line would enable trains to operate between Melbourne and Gladstone as the Surat Basin Railway from Toowoomba to Gladstone is scheduled to be completed by 2012.
Premier Anna Bligh welcomed news that a rail link between Moree and Toowoomba was progressing. "We will work closely with the NSW Government in co-ordinating and evaluating the proposal's assessment," the Premier said. She said the new link had the potential to open up new transport and mining opportunities.
Mr Compton said he had initial discussions about obtaining an exclusive mandate from both governments to build the link based on an undisclosed public-private partnership similar to the one that ATEC negotiated last year for the Surat Basin Railway.
Mr Compton said financial close would take place in September 2010 and construction would be completed by December 2012. A new track will be built over the distance using existing road, rail and power corridors and it will be standard guage in NSW and dual guage in Queensland.
The Railway will begin at Charlton, 15km west of Toowoomba, where ATEC onws 200ha of land on which it is establishing a major freight hub. It will then wind to Moree via Westbrook, Pittsworth, Milmerran, Inglewood, Yelarbon, Yetman and North Star. The border crossing will take place at Yelarbon, avoiding the flood plains of Goondiwindi and Boggabilla.
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