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The shire is located in the middle of the state’s coal country, and shire chief executive Dom Carroll said the economic benefit of the mining industry to the town and its inhabitants had been immense.
But Carroll said the Emerald rail line that carried the coal from mine to port passed straight through the town of Blackwater, which is home to 6000 people, many of them mine workers. Carroll said the trains that travelled on the line created noise and environmental pollution while the area around the track was filled with dirty equipment, creating an eyesore.
The council initially appealed to state government rail operator Queensland Rail to divert the line around the town but this plan was knocked back due to its high cost. The council is now asking for the erection of a barrier around the rail line as it passes through the town.
“If they can’t do that, then at least they could clean up the area and do a bit of landscaping because at the moment it’s abysmal, it’s just a disgrace,” Carroll said.
Compounding the problem is a plan to duplicate the line to cater to the predicted 30% increase in coal traffic as mines expand and new ones come online.
“All the experts can come in here and do these studies and say that there’s no pollution, there’s no noise and no dust. But they don’t live here, and I can tell you there is dust, there is noise,” he said.
In April, the Central Queensland Local Government Association passed a motion to support local governments and communities negatively affected by coal rail lines in their lobbying of the government and Queensland Rail for a fairer deal.
But so far these communities have continued to be frustrated by the lack of action.
Carroll says there will be 55km of coal trains passing through Blackwater every day after the rail line is duplicated.
“It’s a mining town, there’s no doubt about it, but we’ve got a right to enjoy a nice quiet life like anyone else,” he said.
He said surveys of employees by mining companies invariably found workers thought fixing the rail line was the best way to improve the attractiveness of Blackwater.
A QR spokesperson said the operator complied with Environmental Protection Authority guidelines regarding noise and environmental pollution on its rail lines and would continue to monitor any effect from its services as part of its commitment to the community in the shire of Duaringa.
But the spokesperson said QR had no plans to redirect the rail line around the town of Blackwater.
“QR is currently in wide-ranging discussions with the Duaringa Shire Council, discussing a financial contribution towards a solution in Blackwater regarding fencing and landscaping,” the spokesperson said.
QR was willing to consider other options to alleviate the council’s concerns, the spokesperson said.
The rail operator has a code of practice for noise management that favours the introduction of quieter new generation rolling stock over the creation of fixed infrastructure such as noise barriers.
But it admits that the program for replacing its fleet is necessarily long term due to the 40-year-plus lifespan of locomotives and the $5 million cost of new ones.
