Toowoomba leaders call for fast-track of Inland Rail through Qld by state, federal governments

Toowoomba leaders have launched an urgent campaign to save Queensland's stake in Australia's largest rail project as southern states threaten to steal vital freight business.

Some of Toowoomba’s leading powerbrokers have urged the new LNP government to expedite the beleaguered Inland Rail into Queensland or risk losing local freight to the southern states.

Freight hub bosses, economic lobbyists and federal politicians have renewed the “Get It To Gowrie” campaign around the $31bn project, referring to the $1.4bn stretch from the Queensland/New South Wales border to Gowrie Junction just west of Toowoomba.

It comes just weeks after Queensland’s Coordinator-General closed the feedback period for the state’s draft environmental impact statement (EIS), which will be submitted to the federal government and is a key component to securing approval and funding.

A map of the proposed route of the Inland Rail between the NSW/Queensland border to Gowrie, near Toowoomba.

Given the significant difficulties and costs associated with getting rail through the Toowoomba range and onto the project’s new final destination at Ebenezer (detailed in the 2023 independent Schott report), local proponents have latched onto the 216km Border to Gowrie (B2G) stretch to ensure Inland Rail reaches the Sunshine State.

John McVeigh of TSBE. Picture: Christine Schindler

Former Groom MP and executive director of Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise John McVeigh said the Garden City was ideally placed to become the interim end point for the project in Queensland.

“Inland Rail is more important than ever, and we’re hopeful that the Queensland co-ordinator-general’s consideration of the EIS submissions provide them with the clearance or the way forward to confirm with the federal government, who’s funding it, that Queensland is happy on that stage to get it through to Gowrie,” he told News Corp.

“Toowoomba to Brisbane is the most difficult part, but we’ve at least got to get it to Toowoomba in the first place before we can think about the next step to Brisbane in the years to come.

“The other obvious point I make is that Toowoomba with New England Highway, Warrego Highway, Gore Highway, we’re essentially the intersection of all of those.

“We’ve got Wellcamp International Freight Airport and we’ve got the Toowoomba Bypass that the state and federal governments invested $1.6 billion in not so many years ago.

It was the largest inland road project in Australia at the time (so) we should be leveraging it more.”

John Dornbusch, chairman of planned intermodal freight hub InterlinkSQ at Charlton, said recent discussions with both the Department of State Development and Inland Rail gave him more confidence in the project’s prospects north of the Tweed River.

“Queensland as a group has been too slow to react, so I applaud the timing of the EIS,” he said.

SPECIAL DAY: John Dornbusch at the sod turning ceremony to mark the start of construction on the InterlinkSQ Freight Hub west of Toowoomba, back in 2018.

“The co-ordinator-general is right behind it and I think you’ll see support from the state government picking up.

“It’s taken some time for the new iteration of Inland Rail to come up to speed with what’s happening, but our discussions with people within the organisation lead us to a genuine belief that it will get to Gowrie.

“I have confidence that there’s been a realisation among senior bureaucrats in the state, and the newly-elected government, that we need to get a move on.

“My prediction is (there will be) a pause on the tunnel and my view is it will be a trucking solution to the end of line from Gowrie.”

Both men warned the failure to fast-track Inland Rail through Queensland would not only restrict the state from enjoying the benefits but actually divert freight south as the rest of the project progresses through New South Wales.

“We run big risks unless Inland Rail planning and progress comes into Queensland as soon as possible (because) Inland Rail in New South Wales provides a network for Queensland freight to slip south,” Dr McVeigh said.

“So Queensland freight companies, particularly southern Queensland freight, can say, ‘hang on, we’ll just get it down to New South Wales onto their railway lines and send it south to Newcastle or Melbourne’, rather than coming through to Brisbane.”

Mr Dornbusch agreed, saying all Toowoomba leaders needed to be singing from the same songsheet.

“People need to get out and start banging the drum, or Queensland is in danger of missing out, although I see it now as a receding danger that the freight will move south,” he said.

‘Very concerned’: Groom MP questions ARTC over Inland Rail progress

Garth Hamilton during the House Standing Committee on Economics at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Toowoomba’s federal member Garth Hamilton has publicly questioned if the Inland Rail can reach the Garden City under the auspices of the Australian Rail Track Corporation, saying he didn’t “have great confidence”.

The ARTC’s subsidiary Inland Rail was tasked with the construction of the 1600km project across 12 stages in 2023, as part of the recommendations from the damning Schott review.

The three stages through Queensland have been easily the most contentious since Inland Rail was first announced back in 2018.

Mr Hamilton, who himself delivered rail projects overseas in his previous career as an engineer, said he had not been convinced either the new entity or the ARTC would ensure the Queensland sections would be built.

“Nothing’s moved forward at all, it’s completely stalled — if the project was off the tracks before then it’s completely derailed now, so I’m losing faith that it will be delivered,” he said.

“My priority has been for a long time to just get it to Toowoomba and you’ll at least start extracting some benefits from the project, but I have to prioritise my concerns now – the longer this has gone on, landholders are quite justifiably frustrated at how long this process has been drawn out.

“I’ve written to the minister (Catherine King) this term, asking her to review whether ARTC is capable of delivering this project, and think that’s a fair question at this point in time, given the well-documented concerns we hold around ARTC’s stakeholder management.

“I delivered four stations on the East London railway line through the centre of London – you think interface management is hard on this project, imagine doing it in the centre of London.

“Yet we did it on time, just a tiny little bit over budget and I’m watching ARTC really struggle to deliver this project and I don’t think it’s good enough.”

Mr Hamilton stressed he still believed in the potential of Inland Rail, comparing it to the transformative impact rail had on Chicago in the 1930s.

“The amount of product that comes out of our region at the moment is incredible (and) by being able to multiply our ability to reach new markets, this will be such a huge boom for us,” he said.

“Our agricultural industry can grow at a rapid pace – you add Inland Rail to it, it’s exactly what we need.

“The best bit is what this does for us, it means that Toowoomba’s growth isn’t just dependent upon Toowoomba, our growth is then depended on by other markets, so we then become a much more sustainable region and our growth is driven by the growth of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.”

‘Death by a thousand cuts’: Council slams draft rail EIS in response

A project map of the planned route of the NSW/Queensland to Gowrie section of the Inland Rail project.

The Toowoomba Regional Council has slammed the Queensland government’s draft environmental statement for the Border To Gowrie section of the Inland Rail, argued the document “grossly underestimates” some of the impacts the project will have on landholders.

The council’s official feedback to the draft EIS, which was endorsed by councillors in July at a special meeting, outlined a litany of problems with how the state government and its partners would work to mitigate a range of potential impacts on residents living near the 216km track line.

The 88-page response, which was completed by the council with help from contractors and consultants like Range Environmental, outlined problems with how the Inland Rail would minimise issues around noise, light, impacts on flora and fauna, air quality, odour, traffic and flooding.

Most notably, the document argued the proponents had failed to consider the cumulative result of so many different impacts.

“While individual impacts of the project may be assessed as minor or manageable when considered in isolation, the additive effects of multiple small impacts from the project could result in significant ecological impacts,” it said.

“How does the EIS address the risk of “death by a thousand cuts” by the project itself?”

The council recommended the revised EIS to feature more definitive mitigation measures, recognise the TRC as the authority around local roads, protect council assets, and provide comprehensive assessments around the impacts of noise and light, air quality and flora and fauna offsets.

Most notably, the document had serious concerns about the line’s proximity to townships like Brookstead and particularly Pittsworth, pointing to risks around safety and noise.

“Council is concerned that the current proposed B2G alignment near Pittsworth presents an unacceptable risk of impact to current and future receptors and will effectively quarantine land identified for Pittsworth’s future urban growth,” the report said.

“The project poses very significant potential health risks to Brookstead and Pittsworth residents from noise emissions and sleep disturbance.

“At capacity, and at speed, the possibility of an incident on the B2G alignment increases exponentially.

“If such an incident occurred in Brookstead or Pittsworth, there would be catastrophic consequences due to nearby dwellings, workplaces, schools etc.”