This Surat-Dawson Valley rail line is to open up several coal fields in Queensland, including Sennen's.
"we are aiming for it to be operational by December, 2006"
aire.com.au
SEGMENT 1 - THE DAWSON VALLEY RAILWAY
The Dawson Valley Railway (DVR) is located in Central Queensland. It will make a significant contribution to the decentralisation of South Eastern Queensland and the development of Regional Australia.
DVR will create a direct rail link to the Port of Gladstone from the Surat Coal Basin, Maranoa and Darling Downs and we are aiming for it to be operational by December, 2006
Australian Transport & Energy Corridor Ltd (ATEC), long term proponents of the Australian Inland Rail Expressway, is actively pursuing the business case to deliver this project.
DVR will be built from Wandoan to Banana in Central Queensland, both being located on the Leichardt Highway which carries a high volume of road transport. The creation of this missing link of 225 kilometers in the Queensland Rail System will revolutionise the way in which freight is carried in Queensland.
ATEC does not plan to operate its own trains. It is planned that it will make DVR an open access railway which will be used by competing freight distributors and financed by the carriage of coal and other minerals, as well as rural products and general freight. It will create a significant freight corridor between Gladstone and Toowoomba where the largest freight centre in South East Queensland will be established at Charlton. Other freight centres are planned to be built at Miles and Banana.
Our case shows that there are potentially six mines in the Surat Basin that will use the Dawson Valley Railway to send their coal through the Port of Gladstone with a potential to open additional mines.
The planned path of DVR will follow a road corridor from Wandoan to Cracow and on to Banana, passing close by Theodore on the way, while avoiding national parks and flood plains and bypassing the existing unused rail track from Theodore to Moura which is beyond repair. From the Wandoan end, existing QR tracks will link DVR with Toowoomba. From Banana, the QR coal railway will create the link to Gladstone.
As ATEC is recognised by the Commonwealth and Queensland Governments as the proponent of the Australian Inland Rail Expressway (AIRE) which will link Melbourne with Darwin via New South Wales and Queensland, it is planned that DVR's infrastructure will be built to accommodate a standard gauge track. But, until the construction of the Melbourne to Brisbane and Toowoomba to Gladstone stages of AIRE are completed, DVR will be initially of narrow gauge so that it is compatible with Queensland's existing rail system. At a later date, a third steel track will be laid so as to make it a dual gauge railway.
DVR will stand alone as a financial and economic entity in its own right and will not be dependant upon the completion of the Melbourne to Brisbane segment of the AIRE.
To progress the development of the Dawson Valley Railway is to ensure the future of regional Queensland and the economic prosperity of Queensland as a whole.
Its time has now come. |
