Consortium proposes 60km tunnel to take Inland Rail freight direct to port

A consortium wants to overhaul the Queensland leg of the Inland Rail line in a bid to get the troubled project back on track and its final leg to the Brisbane port finished before the 2032 Olympics.

The Inland Rail section in Queensland was sent back to the drawing board after the Schott review in 2023.

A consortium wants to overhaul the Queensland leg of the Inland Rail line in a bid to get the troubled project back on track and its final leg to the Brisbane port finished before the 2032 Olympics.

The revamped proposal, which is being considered by the Queensland government, comes after concerns the mooted 1600km freight line would not make it into the state.

It promises to solve two unresolved issues that have plagued the project – a cost-effective engineering solution down the steep Toowoomba range, west of Brisbane, and getting freight to the port through the fast-growing capital’s congested suburbs.

National Trunk Rail’s PortConnex proposes to run battery-powered, automated locomotives from Gowrie, near Toowoomba, to a proposed Inland Rail intermodal terminal at Ebenezer, near Ipswich. From there, freight would be moved by an automated, battery-powered shuttle directly to the port via a $7.2bn 60km tunnel.

A previous proposal to base the terminus in the outer Brisbane suburb of Acacia Ridge, for freight to be unloaded to trucks or compete with passenger rail on the final run to the port, received significant community and political opposition because of the increased congestion and the prospect of two million extra residents in the region over coming decades.

NTR claims its project, which could be completed in 2031, would generate a tenfold increase in bulk commodities exported through the port of Brisbane, yielding an extra $10bn in state government royalties and $4bn in federal tax revenue over 20 years and unlock $13bn to $21bn in direct economic benefit.

Research by the University of Queensland has identified more than $500bn worth of economic, social and environmental benefits by 2050 by removing 2.4 million truck journeys from Brisbane roads and enabling easier movement of transport containers and agricultural, mining and livestock freight to the port.

NTR chairman Martin Albrecht, a former longstanding Thiess managing director and chairman, said continuing to deliver 98 per cent of the port’s container freight by road through suburban streets was unsustainable.

“The successful delivery of this transformational infrastructure will be a worthy legacy to improve connectivity and congestion in time for the 2032 regional Olympics,” Mr Albrecht said. “This will significantly help with the decongestion of southeast Queensland and enhance connectivity for commuters and passenger rail services.

“Delivery of NTR’s solution gives certainty for Inland Rail to reach Queensland and the distribution hub at Ebenezer and the certainty of getting it right to the port.”

A solar hub located at Ebenezer would charge the batteries used to power the trains, which could also harvest energy as gravity pushes them down the Toowoomba range.

“If you’d have pitched this project five years ago, you’d have been laughed out of the place because the technology and resultant engineering innovation wasn’t there,” Mr Albrecht said.

“The technology is there now and the country’s biggest mining companies are investing in it for iron ore operations in WA.”

NTR proposes a new route down the Toowoomba range, which would enable the existing West Moreton Rail System to continue to operate for passenger rail without competing with freight.

The range route is within the existing rail corridor, which Mr Albrecht said would prevent delays and save unnecessary duplication in infrastructure and corridor acquisition.

The existing West Moreton Rail Line to the resource-rich Surat Basin, west of Toowoomba, would be upgraded to take higher axle loads.

Mr Albrecht said without increasing economic activity in Queensland, the entire Inland Rail project was not sustainable.

“If you want the line to be economically viable, you have to generate income and economic activity within Queensland,” he said. “This unlocks a huge export market for agriculture and resources.

“What we are providing here is mitigation of the cost to government because they can recoup it many times over through the massive increase in royalties and taxes.”

NTR’s proposal, which would include private sector investment, has received support from the Southeast Queensland Council of Mayors, University of Queensland, the Port of Brisbane, Wagner Corporation, the St Baker Energy Innovation Fund and Malaysian construction company Gamuda.

The Ebenezer site was first recognised in 2016 by Infrastructure Australia as an ideal location for a distribution hub where freight could be unloaded from the double-stacked trains.

While later Inland Rail plans moved away from Ebenezer, the locality was again endorsed last year, this time by former NSW government and business executive Kerry Schott in her review of the Inland Rail project for the Albanese government.

Martin Albrecht. Picture: Hollie Adams

Mr Albrecht said NTR’s solution was closely aligned with the Schott review’s recommendations. “We now have certainty on where the terminus is and now we need certainty on how to get from Gowrie to Ebenezer,” Mr Albrecht said.

When construction started in 2018, Inland Rail was due to be completed by 2027 and was going to run 1600km from Tottenham in Melbourne to Acacia Ridge in Brisbane.

Two disjointed sections, totalling about 300km, between Parkes, west of Sydney, and North Star, near the Queensland border, are effectively completed but sit isolated from the rest of the upgraded line further south.

Further funding is locked in for a 650km stretch from Beveridge, 40km north of Melbourne, to Parkes, with an estimated completion date of 2027.