Green light for Cockatoo Coal and Stanmore Coal to negotiate rail access on the proposed Surat Basin Rail line
June 21, 2012
Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has given the green light to miners Cockatoo Coal and Stanmore Coal to collectively negotiate for rail access
from the Surat Basin to the Port of Gladstone.
The interim authorisation will allow the two coal miners to
gain access to
a proposed 210 kilometre rail system
connecting Wandoan, 230 kilometres north-west of Toowoomba with Banana, 130 kilometres west of Gladstone.
Often referred to as the ‘Southern Missing Link’, the $1 billion project finded by
the Surat Basin Joint Rail Venture will allow Surat Basin coal mines access to the export supply chain for the first time.
The open-access, multi-use rail link
will deliver a transport solution from the Surat Basin region to the proposed Wiggins Island Coal Terminal currently being built at the Port of Gladstone, unlocking the economic viability of approximately four billion tonnes of thermal coal reserves.
Cockatoo
and Stanmore are both participating in stage two of the expansion of the Wiggins Island Terminal.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims says the decision enables producers and Surat Basin Rail to accelerate current negotiations to secure rail capacity.
“This is likely to facilitate the timely construction of stage two of the Wiggins Island Terminal and avoid any unnecessary delays in coal export growth,” Sims says.
The greenfield Surat Basin Rail Line will comprise a single narrow gauge track with up to eight passing loops, capable of accommodating trains up to 2.5 kilometres in length.
The rail corridor will be approximately 60 metres wide, with wider sections at passing loops.
Represented by Surat Basin Rail (SBR), the joint venture comprises ATEC (Dawson Valley Railway), Xstrata Coal Surat Basin Rail and QR Surat Basin Rail, a subsidiary of QR National, which signed up to the project late last year.
Construction of the Surat Basin rail line is expected to commence in the 2011-12 financial year and be completed in the 2014-15 financial year.