Clear track forward for Inland Rail seen as critical to help boost Queensland regions
The establishment of an independent panel of experts to help resolve the final engineering solution for Inland Rail across the Condamine Floodplain gains a thumbs-up from major rail and construction outfits.
The floodplain presents significant challenges as damaging southern Queensland floods in the last decade have proven and, according to the federal government, the solution must stack up against industry best practice for the design of structures in a floodplain environment.
The panel is tasked with conducting flood studies to provide advice to the Commonwealth and Queensland governments on the flood models and structural designs being developed by the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC).
Panel is to:
- provide assurance for Inland Rail’s engineering solutions
- review existing modelling and structural designs
- take account of local geology and hydrology patterns
- ensure the highest level of public safety assurance for Inland Rail.
Pacific National CEO Dean Dalla Valle says the continued construction of the $10 billion Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail project will form a key plank in helping regional economics in Queensland emerge from the current coronavirus crisis.
“Make no mistake, in the current economic climate, private sector investment along the Inland Rail route will quickly dry up if this project gets ‘stuck in the mud’ on the Condamine Floodplain,” Dalla Valle says.
“Expert advice and reassurance about flood modelling and engineering solutions is urgently needed for both affected regional communities and future potential investors.”
Read about the talks between Wagner and Pacific National on Inland Rail, here
Wagner Corporation, which recently signed an initial business agreement with Pacific National on the potential to develop a major rail freight and logistics hub at Wellcamp Business Park near Toowoomba, is also keen for proper momentum to continue.
“I’m heartened to see the Australian Government placing a keen focus and effort on resolving any remaining hydrological and engineering issues of the Inland Rail project across the Condamine Floodplain.
“Inland Rail is largely a shovel-ready project, meaning hundreds of Queensland construction workers, contractors and suppliers can be mobilised quickly to help revive regional economies hard hit by years of drought and now the coronavirus pandemic,” non-executive chairman of John Wagner says.
The proposed 250-hectare Wellcamp Logistics Hub has frontage to the future Inland Rail project, allowing extensive future intermodal operations for freight to be transferred between trains, planes and trucks.
Wagner points out that Inland Rail has sparked the interest of private companies to consider investing in major intermodal freight hubs along the future rail corridor between Melbourne and Brisbane.
“When Wagner Corporation attended the October 2019 opening of Pacific National’s logistics terminal in Parkes – also located on the Inland Rail alignment – it gave us an exciting picture of what could be achieved with future rail freight services at Wellcamp,” he says.