QR National has awarded the second major construction contract for the Wiggins Island rail project, one of Australia’s largest rail infrastructure projects
July 10, 2012
QR National has awarded the second major construction contract for the Wiggins Island rail project, one of Australia’s largest rail infrastructure projects.
Leighton Contractors has been awarded the $56 million civil works contract for the track duplication between Rocklands and Stanwell near Rockhampton, one of six key work sites for stage one of the project.
This follows QR National’s recent appointment of Abigroup for the $76 million civil works for the balloon loop near Gladstone, where coal trains will be unloaded at the Wiggins Island coal export terminal.
QR National Network Executive Vice President Michael Carter says the awarding of the two contracts is a significant step forward for the construction of the rail project, which remains on target to commence railings in mid-2014.
“This signing of this new contract will enable Leighton to begin construction this month,” he says.
“This particular segment involves 18 kilometres of track duplication between Rocklands and Stanwell on the Blackwater system as well as the construction of three rail bridges at the Burnett Highway, Four Mile Creek and Neerkol Creek.”
Carter says the project will support the initial 27 million tonnes per annum of coal to Wiggins Island coal terminal.
“As part of stage one of the project the entire Blackwater system will be duplicated, enabling longer coal trains of up to 1.7 kilometres and more frequent services along the track,” he says.
QR National signed an agreement in September 2011 with a consortium of coal companies to construct the Wiggins Island rail project, which involves the staged development of new rail lines and upgrading of existing lines to service the new Wiggins Island coal export terminal (WICET) at the Port of Gladstone.
The six major work sites for stage one of the project are Rocklands to Stanwell duplication, the WICET balloon loop, Dingo to Bluff duplication, Moura East upgrade, north coast Line upgrade and Bauhinia north branch upgrade.
The project is a central part of QR National’s coal infrastructure expansion program, which is adding more than 70 million tonnes of capacity to the Central Queensland coal network to lift total capacity to in excess of 300 million tonnes by 2015.