The Queensland Government has announced two rail corridors for coal mines in the Galilee and Bowen Basins
June 6, 2012
The Queensland Government has announced two rail corridors to service new and existing coal mines in the Galilee and Bowen Basins.
In a statement today, the
State Government
announced
plans for an east-west corridor
to extend the QR National network from near Moranbah to the central Galilee Basin, providing links to Abbot Point coal ports, Dalrymple Bay and Dudgeon Point.
The government says
a north-south rail corridor will also be defined along the proposed GVK-Hancock Coal alignment to aid the construction of new standard gauge rail lines, linking proposed mining operations in the southern Galilee Basin to Abbot Point.
Infrastructure and Planning Minister Jeff Seeney told Parliament today the two corridors were in the only areas the State Government would be likely to compulsorily acquire land for new rail lines.
“After exhaustive negotiations with all the mine proponents I believe that the responsible development of the Galilee Basin can be achieved by defining an east-west extension of the QR National
network and a north-south corridor to facilitate a new standard gauge line,” Seeney says.
“The Government will work towards declaring state development areas to define these two preferred corridors within which the Government’s powers of compulsory land acquisition can be exercised to bring about our clearly stated policy outcomes of a coordinated approach to railway development.”
Seeney says the east-west extension is being developed by QR National and Adani and is the best option for a staged development of mine, rail and port capacity for the Galilee Basin in the short term.
“A major increase in tonnages can be carried on this extension and the existing network,” he says.
“The Government will also support an expansion of capacity on the existing QR National
alignment north to Abbot Point.”
“It will be the preferred transport corridor for proposed developments and expansions in the northern Bowen Basin and will provide a long awaiting deviation around Collinsville.”
Seeney
says the Government will also support the development of coal-line standard for the existing rail line from Alpha to Emerald.
For the large, vertically integrated mines proposed for the southern Galilee area, a corridor
will be defined that
straddles the alignment proposed by GVK-Hancock Coal for a new 500 kilometre standard gauge line north to Abbot Point.
“The Government will ensure third party access to each of these corridors and no proponent will be disadvantaged.”
“There will be the option for other large mining proposals to co-locate their own new railway lines within north-south corridor should they consider that to be more commercially viable.”
QR National Managing Director and CEO Lance Hockridge says the development will unlock the basins’ potential and underpin their position as global centres for coal mining and export.
He says QR National will now expand the existing brownfields rail system to
aid the staged development of both basins.
“The first stage will be to expand the current capacity on the Goonyella and Newlands corridors by at least 25 million tonnes per annum to 75 million tonnes per annum by duplicating sections of Goonyella to Abbot Point (GAP),” Hockridge says.
“QR National will also accelerate feasibility studies to examine expanding GAP, including duplication, to accommodate potential demand from miners.
“The scalability of the network allows for capacity of more than 200 million tonnes per annum. Part of our design of GAP was to accommodate flexibility for future growth and expandability in line with demand as the Queensland resource sector grows.
“As part of the initial expansion work QR National is committing to construction of a deviation around the township of Collinsville to minimise the impact on local residents.”
Hockridge also welcomed support for QR National’s proposed staged development of a west to east common corridor and supporting north-south connections.
“By leveraging the expandability of the existing rail network in this way, QR National will be able to efficiently match rail capacity upgrades with planned mine production ramp-ups,” he says.
“In line with this approach the State has asked QR National to also examine development of the Queensland Rail owned Emerald line, in order to service the southern Galilee both in terms of outgoing coal tonnages and incoming freight such as fuel.”