Queensland puts Surat Basin railway on front burner

The right to build what is being touted as the first part of an inland rail link between Melbourne and Gladstone, a new 207-km rail line from Wandoan to Banana allowing access to the port of Gladstone, was nabbed by a joint venture in early December.

The JV comprises Australian Transport and Energy Corridor (Dawson Valley Railway) Pty Ltd (Atec), Industry Funds Management, Queensland Rail, Xstrata Coal and Anglo Coal.

These major players in Queensland's Surat Basin Railway, have two years to get it up and running or lose their exclusive access to the project, a spokesman for deputy premier and minister for infrastructure Anna Bligh has told Earthmover .

The formal signing of for the initiative worth more than $1bn, was met by the state government granting a conditional, exclusive mandate to the consortium. This project, should it proceed, will open up an estimated 4 billion tonnes of thermal coal in the Surat Basin for development and export,” she said.

“No-one else can have a crack at it while they've got it,” the spokesman said of the project that was unveiled in July and aimed at opening up the coal rich Surat Basin. “One of the five players is Queensland Rail, so we are a shareholder in that sense already. And, obviously, the government wants a commercial return. These people now have two years to come back to us with a `we can do this: we'll get it up and running'.”

Queensland premier Peter Beattie was very bullish about the project. “This will lead to the single biggest economic injection yet for the Darling Downs and the southwest [of Queensland],” Beattie said. “This exclusive mandate will give both the government and the consortium benefits to progress the new rail line, also known as the Southern Missing Link. In return, the consortium will have exclusivity to thoroughly investigate developing the link to join the Moura rail system at Wandoan,” he said.