A fully laden train from the Goonyella Mine derailed at about 2am Friday, crashing into a fully laden train from the Oaky Creek mine on an adjacent track about 145km west of Dalrymple Bay.

 

The crash derailed 45 loaded coal wagons and four locomotives, forcing the closure of the line between Bowen Basin coal mines and the Dalrymple and Hay Point terminals.

 

The shutdown affected 10 of 13 mines in the Goonyella area, including the Saraji, Goonyella, Riverside, Norwich Park, Peak Downs, German Creek, Moranbah North, Oaky Creek, Moorvale and North Goonyella mines.

 

A Queensland Rail spokesperson told International Longwall News this morning the recovery was proceeding according to plan and a full resumption of rail services was expected by Wednesday morning.

 

Some services had been restored Friday night and coal shipments from the Goonyella mining area resumed on an adjacent line providing a route for 18 trains on Saturday and a further 20 on Sunday. At full capacity the line carries 28 trains a day.

 

No injuries resulted from the accident and Queensland Rail investigators are currently assessing the cause of the incident.

 

Significant track, overhead line equipment and rolling stock damage has been reported.

 

The Dalrymple Bay terminal, owned by Prime Infrastructure Group, handles almost a quarter of the coal shipped from Australia. The terminal has been plagued by bottleneck problems for much of the year.