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Australia’s Queensland Rail (QR) recently completed a $71.5 million double-track project that increases the railroad’s capacity to move coal from central Queensland mines to power stations and ports.

QR’s infrastructure unit QR Network built a 6.5-mile section of track between Stanwell and Wycarbah as part of a five-year, $900 million infrastructure improvement program. The project included the construction of a highway overpass and several smaller rail bridges, as well as electrification and signaling work.

By year’s end, QR Network plans to duplicate about 80 percent of the Blackwater rail system, which links Bowen Basin mines to Port of Gladstone coal terminals. The double-track will boost coal supply-chain transportation capacity by 40 percent, QR said.

“This project is the seventh in a series of 12 track duplication projects aimed at boosting the Blackwater system’s capacity to meet customer demand in parallel with a projected port capacity increase,” said QR Network Executive General Manager Mike Carter in a prepared statement.