Millmerran meeting on Monday to help people with their Inland Rail EIS submissions

Want to comment on the Inland Rail’s proposed route across the Darling Downs but not sure what to do? A meeting has been organised for Monday night in Millmerran to assist.

Landholders and residents affected by a proposal for the Inland Rail route to cross the Condamine River flood plain near Millmerran will meet in the Darling Downs town on Monday night.

Millmerran Rail Group chairman Wes Judd said the meeting had been called to assist landholders and residents prepare written submissions to raise specific concerns, with the Queensland Government’s Co-ordinator-General, about the Australian Rail Track Corporation’s (ARTC) proposed route.

“The draft Environmental Impact Statement prepared by ARTC is flawed, its full of information gaps and if approved will ruin lives and livelihoods in the Millmerran district,” Mr Judd said.

“The Co-ordinator General is assessing the draft EIS and will accept public submissions until April 19.

“To assist local families and businesses to make their submissions, the Millmerran Rail Group is hosting a meeting to ensure local landholders and residents make their views known.”

Mr Judd said common concerns about the proposal and the draft EIS was the incorrect assumptions in flood modelling and unfinished parts of the proposal.

The ARTC has repeatedly said it has confidence in its flood modelling and hydrology of the route’s crossing of the Condamine flood plain.

“The ARTC concedes in the draft EIS that basic details of the proposed route remain unfinished. These include the land area for the project’s footprint, the drainage for flood waters, the alignment of the railways, the design of level crossings, the design of 11 kilometres of bridges, the impact on utilities such as power and water, and the impacts on the existing Queensland Rail lines and assets, and fencing around the project,” Mr Judd said.

The meeting will be held at the Millmerran Community and Cultural Centre, Walpole Street, Millmerran from 6pm on Monday, March 29.

The centre hosted the first hearing of a Senate Inquiry into Inland Rail in January 2020.

The Senate Inquiry’s report is due to be released on 13 May.