“I am pleased to reach an agreement with Victoria, the first state behind Inland Rail, to improve transportation times for local farmers and producers and support thousands of jobs,” said McCormack. The Albury section to Illabo (A2I) provides for the modernization of the 185-kilometre rail corridor from Albury to the Victoria-NSW border at Illabo for the operation of 1,800 metres of double trains. The 1,700-km-long freight line will connect Melbourne and Brisbane via the regional regions of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, but has had a controversial impact on the Darling Downs, where Millmerran farmers fear the consequences of thinking about the railway line on The Floodplain Condamine. Planning and defining the scope of work has already begun to ensure that these projects meet the transportation needs of passengers and regional communities, and the Victorian and Australian authorities have agreed on the first phase of the work, with some work already underway. – the collapse of five rails under road bridges on Beaudesert Road, Learoyd Road, Johnson Road, Middle Road and Pub Lane; – construction of two new crossing loops and extension of two other buildings at Greenbank and Bromelton; The Illabo section to Stockinbingal (I2S) will feature 37 kilometres of new tracks and would provide a new direct line between eastern Illabo and the Forbes railway line near Stockinbingal. The planned alignment will also bypass the Bethungra spiral and will be 30 kilometres shorter than the existing route. June 2020: The federal government announced that federal planning authorities for domestic railway projects will be accelerated under a bilateral model between the federal government and the federal states, reducing approval times by up to 50 percent. “With this agreement, we will work with the federal government on Business Cases to transport passengers from Salisbury to Beaudesert, Brisbane to Toowoomba and a rail freight line specific to the Port of Brisbane. Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and National Transport Minister Mark Bailey signed the agreement at Toowoomba City Hall, signaling a major step forward for the $9.3 billion project that has already reached agreements with New South Wales and Victoria. Today, an agreement has been reached on Inland Rail, and money for the $1.7 billion regional program is being delivered to Victoria. The Stockinbingal to Parkes (S2P) section includes the development of 173 kilometres of existing rail corridors to allow double-decker trains up to 1.8 kilometres in length to operate on the route.
“Today`s bilateral agreement is supported by the federal government`s $9.3 billion commitment to supply Inland Rail and is part of the broader $25 billion commitment we have made since taking office in 2013 for road and rail projects across Queensland,” said McCormack. Now that Queensland has been officially signed, the three eastern states are committed to implementing this project of national importance. The new agreement provides for the agreement of the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) to supply Inland Rail in Queensland.
