A group of business people called the Committee for Brisbane has called for a dedicated rail link to connect the Port of Brisbane with the inland rail mega-project, saying it would create a $5.4bn boost to the economy and create 1200 jobs annually – as well as take 2.4 million trucks a year off the road.
Federal MP Ross Vasta has pitched a new plan for the Inland Rail with the potential to solve previous critiques. Brisbane residents were concerned the proposed end of the line, Acacia Ridge, would load the area with heavy traffic from trucks transporting freight from port to rail.
Mr Vasta has suggested a dedicated underground rail connection to solve traffic concerns. The federal government has backed researching the idea with a $20 million offering. Last week, Mr Vasta wrote a letter to the Queensland Minister for State Transport, Mark Bailey, imploring him to release the Port of Brisbane Strategic Rail Access Study “with the utmost urgency.â€
There is some resistance to the idea of digging a tunnel link for the movement of shipping containers in and out of Brisbane port, taking into account that the ambitious idea would set the overall completion date of the infrastructure back.
In December, the chief executive of the Cross River Rail project rejected a call for an underground rail tunnel link to the port, saying that the current project alignment would be able to cope with Brisbane’s future Acacia Ridge-to-Port of Brisbane freight line, via its service through the CBD, and that the previous design – which was the longer tunnel design – was “servicing a different methodology.â€
Cross River Rail’s borer crews and refurbished machines with re-sized cutting heads could be used to dig two tunnels stretching 16km and end the missing link between Brisbane’s port and Inland Rail, generating a huge jobs, exports and congestion-busting boost to Queensland. We continue to follow the debate and look forward to the advancement of the tunnel concept.
As a licensed Customs Broker and International Freight Forwarder, Colless Young offers a complete range of logistics services, both air and sea, import and export, through all Australian ports and airports, including clearance through customs, warehousing and fumigation.
