Queensland Rail has revealed the scope of damage caused by flooding in Queensland’s north and Far North, with almost 200 defects found across the two major lines in the region.
Approximately 177 defects have been identified on the North Coast and Mount Isa rail lines, with more than six kilometres of washouts and scouring also assessed on the North Coast line.
As of February 10, 20 separate defects had been repaired.
While repairs have been ongoing on the Ollera Creek Bridge, special on-track machinery has been used to allow the public, emergency services and key supplies to cross into Ingham via the rail bridge and will continue to be used until the road bridge is repaired.
Parts of the regional rail network will remain closed including sections of the North Coast line, Mount Isa line, Central West line and Kurrunda Range, with freight and passenger services unable to operate on these sections.
With muddy conditions and continuing rain forecast, a reopening date is still to be confirmed.
Queensland Rail Head of Regional Scott Cornish says work is being undertaken as quickly as possible to reopen the impacted lines.
“We know how important our regional network is for both freight and passenger service, so rest assured we will have these back up and running as soon as we can,” Cornish says.
“I also want to thank our hard-working teams who are working as quickly and as safely as possible to restore our rail network, which has suffered significant damage as a result of this severe weather system.
“Queensland Rail is proud to connect communities, and we are grateful to be able to help out locals with nearly 2000 people including emergency and essential services personnel taken across the Ollera Creek rail bridge, restoring this vital link while works to the permanent Bruce Highway road bridge are underway.”
Repairs to the road bridge are ongoing, however approximately 300 heavy vehicles were able to cross a temporary structure on Monday evening to bring severely needed supplies to the flood-impacted Ingham region.
Operators were then asked to avoid using the bridge on Tuesday morning to allow repairs to continue.
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