Fast-track Inland Rail
From TSBE CEO, Ali Davenport: TSBE have been advocating to all levels of Government to fast-track shovel-ready infrastructure projects to assist our region’s economic recovery post COVID-19.
Inland Rail is an important project that will enable Toowoomba to become a major transport and logistics hub.
A Border to Gowrie route across the Darling Downs was selected in 2017 and worlds best practice flood plain modelling has been completed and reviewed by many well recognised and respected engineers and hydrologists.
The support for Inland Rail from businesses and producers across the Darling Downs region is extremely high but opponents to the project are seeking to discredit Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), the route selection process and the flood plain modelling.
Despite the comprehensive efforts to date, opponents are now suggesting another more complex route be considered further downstream at Cecil Plains where the flood plain crossing is wider, and will make the route longer and therefore be more expensive to construct.
TSBE and local political leaders including Groom MP John McVeigh, Member for Condamine Pat Weir, Member for Toowoomba South David Janetzki, Member for Toowoomba North Trevor Watts and Mayor Paul Antonio met with ARTC and representatives from Aurecon and AECOM, the engineering firms that conducted the flood modelling studies on the proposed route.
All present at the meeting were given a greater understanding of the processes involved and believed that ARTC’s efforts have been professional and consistent with world’s best practice, that the route selection had been comprehensive, and that the flood plain modelling, which is clearly of concern to all people in the region, was comprehensively studied and understood by the experts.
It is difficult to understand why this major project keeps being delayed, especially now when we are seeking to recover quickly from the COVID-19 economic impacts.
We do acknowledge that the Deputy Prime Minister has agreed to again review current information on the proposed Cecil Plains flood plain route which was discarded some years ago given it did not meet the service offering requirements for Inland Rail set by Government, including transit time and cost.
We will be interested in hearing the findings of this review in early July and how it stacks up against the preferred route selected in 2017.
We’re calling for the urgent completion of the Environmental Impact Statement without further delay so that it can be made public and address any questions that the community has around Inland Rail.
This project is expected to deliver a $7.3 billion economic injection to Queensland and create over 7,000 jobs, and will mean lower transport costs and a whole new industry of transport and logistics for our region.
Let’s get on with it.
