Australia's QR National to build rail line for new export coal terminal (9/7/2011)
9/7/2023Australian freight-rail service provider QR National Ltd. recently signed an agreement with eight coal companies to build a more than $950 million rail line to a new coal export terminal at a port in Gladstone, Queensland. The line will be used to transport export coal to the proposed Wiggins Island coal terminal from Australian coal mines in the southern Bowen Basin. Construction on the terminal is scheduled to start in early 2012 and conclude in mid-2014.
QR National rail infrastructure subsidiary QR Network will build the line, which will support the construction of the coal terminal’s first stage. To begin next year, the rail project — which is subject to approvals from the Queensland Competition Authority and financial closure of the coal terminal — includes an eight-mile loop near the Gladstone port, upgrades to sections of the North Coast Line and other lines, and duplication of track sections along the Blackwater rail system.
“The Wiggins Island rail project will be one of the largest rail expansions in Australia and represents a significant commitment to the future growth of the Queensland coal industry,” said QR National Chief Executive and Managing Director Lance Hockridge in a prepared statement.
The eight coal companies working on the Wiggins Island terminal’s first stage are: Xstrata plc, Aquila Resources Ltd., Cockatoo Coal Ltd., Bandanna Energy Ltd., Northern Energy Corp., Wesfarmers Ltd., Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. and Guangdong Rising Asset Management Co.
Source: Progressive Railroading Daily News