New railline in Queensland,Australia.
A 207km line(1067mm gauge) will be built,linking Wandoan with Banana, and being part of a 700km line from Toowoomba to Gladstone (a port). The existing lines are owned by Qeensland railways (now QR National)and will be upgraded; though the Banana-Gladstone segment already export coal from Moura.The Wandoan banch handles grain and will be exstensively improved.The new line will allow the development of four billion tonnes of high quality thermal coal in the Surat Basin. A consortium (which includes QR National) will construction and upgrading.One of the consortium members is promoting a visionary scheme linking Melbourne with Darwin wih a standard gauge railway.As the new Wandoan-Banana link would be part of the route of this line, dual guage sleepers may be laid in the initial narrow guage phase.
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