The issues regarding various routes were set out in a series of Railway Digest articles in mid 2006. The recent oil price bubble followed by Wall Street Blues have given the new Federal Government an excuse to ignore the trucking lobby and get started.
Below is some of my effort of ten years. Clicking on the "Freight Trains or B-Doubles" link will take you to my Port Botany page which also needs updating.
| Extending QR operations into Moree on the 1067mm gauge gives the only
prospect of shifting tonne/kilometres from road to rail in the forseeable future. This involves little more than a bridge over the Macintyre just upstream of Goondiwindi and third railing the Boggabilla line into Moree. (somebody else claims they are about to build a bridge for standard gauge).
QR's ambitions seem to involve extending the dual-gauge to Narrabri. It would be used by containers with cotton, machinery, oilseeds, fertilizers, super-market supplies etc and perhaps their large fleet of livestock wagons. |
The NSW Roads and Traffic Authority has acknowledged QR's ambitions in the Environmental Impact Statement (August 2002) for a Newell Highway diversion in Moree.They do not seem to see any reduction in truck movements and showed contempt for rail by hijacking much of the railway corridor.
John Anderson resigned as Federal Transport Minister in June 2005 but remains the member for this area at a time of rising diesel prices. Will the pro-trucking anti-rail attitudes of his electorate change? This topic has been on this site since 1998 and a lot of diesel use and a lot of highway crashes could have been avoided in that time with the dual-gauge scheme. |
|
 |
Let us not forget the new bridge would be built for dual gauge and would be part of a future Brisbane link to the standard gauge network that reduces time and distance and avoids the heavily populated coast.
The map is more accurate south of the border than in Qld.. I think the present rail distance to Brisbane from Goondiwindi is about 420km. Highway distance is quite a bit shorter and both modes have extra distance to the port at the mouth of the Brisbane River. Boggabilla is 797km from Sydney by rail, about 635 to Newcastle. |
The initial narrow gauge stage involves very little new route, and should not be held up over supposed problems that confront the enormous task of running a major standard gauge trunk through this area.
Truck owners based up to 100km to the south and west of Moree might be better off supporting Moree becoming a dual-gauge town. They could gain a better lifestyle if they carted to a QR railhead there. No more overnight runs to Brisbane.
Click here to GO to -
