Private investment 'will dry up' if rail project delayed

AUSTRALIA'S largest rail freight operator and Wagners have welcomed the bid to resolve the Inland Rail's crossing of the Condamine Floodplain.

FILE PHOTO

AUSTRALIA'S largest rail freight operator and one of Queensland's largest construction companies have welcomed the establishment of an independent panel of experts to help resolve the final engineering solution for Inland Rail across the Condamine Floodplain.

Pacific National CEO Dean Dalla Valle said the continued construction of the $10 billion Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail project will form a key plank in helping regional economies in Queensland emerge from the current coronavirus crisis.

"Make no mistake, in the current economic climate, private sector investment along the Inland Rail route will quickly dry up if this project gets 'stuck in the mud' on the Condamine Floodplain," Mr Dalla Valle said. 

"Expert advice and reassurance about flood modelling and engineering solutions is urgently needed for both affected regional communities and future potential investors."

Wagner Corporation chairman John Wagner said the company had recently signed an initial business agreement with Pacific National about the potential to develop a major rail freight and logistics hub at Wellcamp Business Park, Toowoomba.

"Wellcamp Business Park is the perfect place to develop a major logistics hub in south east Queensland," he said.

"The Darling Downs is one of the most productive agricultural regions in Australia, while Toowoomba is an incredibly progressive and vibrant regional city.

"I'm heartened to see the Australian Government placing a keen focus and effort on resolving any remaining hydrological and engineering issues of the Inland Rail project across the Condamine Floodplain.

"Inland Rail is largely a shovel-ready project, meaning hundreds of Queensland construction workers, contractors and suppliers can be mobilised quickly to help revive regional economies hard hit by years of drought and now the coronavirus pandemic."

The proposed 250-hectare Wellcamp Logistics Hub has frontage to the future Inland Rail project, allowing extensive future intermodal operations for freight to be transferred between trains, planes and trucks.

Unique features of a future multi-modal Wellcamp Logistics Hub include:

• Approximately 2.7 kilometres of frontage to the future Inland Rail, thereby potentially allowing 1,800-metre-long freight trains to operate at the future site;
• Potential to process up to 350,000 shipping containers by 2030 and 500,000 by 2040;
• Provision of a fully licensed and bonded international air cargo terminal; and
• Daily cargo plane (e.g. 747) operations.

Mr Wagner said the Australian Government's construction of Inland Rail had sparked the interest of private companies to consider investing in major intermodal freight hubs along the future rail corridor between Melbourne and Brisbane.

Originally published as Private investment 'will dry up' if rail project delayed