Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport Mark Vaile announced a $3.5 million government commitment to consider the economic and financial viability of dual gauging the line.
A dual gauge line would be able to handle huge standard gauge coal wagons as well as the smaller narrow gauge equipment used by Queensland Rail.
The Surat Basin Railway consortium – made up of the Australian Transport and Energy Corridor, Industry Funds Management, Queensland Rail, Xstrata Coal and Anglo Coal – is about to carry out the detailed engineering and financial planning that is needed to build the line, after receiving an exclusive mandate from the state.
“Queensland's coal lines are struggling to keep up with the international demand for the state's coal. One of the reasons is that Queensland coal trains are narrow gauge: they run on rails that are 3 feet 6 inches apart," Vaile said.
“The interstate rail system and the Hunter Valley coal line to the Port of Newcastle use standard gauge, where the rails are 4ft 8.5in apart.
“As a result, a typical Queensland coal wagon can only carry 83.75 tonnes of coal. In contrast, a typical standard gauge coal wagon has a 30t axle load and can carry 97t. A typical Queensland coal train has 122 wagons, so a standard gauge train of the same length would be able to haul an additional 1600t of coal.”
Vaile said a dual gauge railway could also result in lower coal freight rates, because it would give interstate train operators a fair chance to compete against QR for coal contracts.
Xstrata’s proposed Wandoan coal project in the Surat Basin, which will produce about 20 million tonnes of coal a year, was the initial driver for the Southern Missing Link railway.
“As a first step, the Australian Government will provide funding to the planning work so it can cover dual gauging the line from Gladstone through to the planned Wandoan mine and then to Toowoomba. The dual gauge track could be extended later to the massive Felton deposit near Pittsworth,” Vaile said.
The new $1 billion-plus rail connection will see coal from the Surat Basin region transported for export through the proposed Wiggins Island Coal Terminal.
