Inland Rail Megaproject Moves Ahead

The locals at Euroa, population about 3120, knew something was up with one of Australia’s biggest megaprojects. The tip off? John Holland workers arriving in their town, about a two-hour drive north of Melbourne, to start onsite preparation works for the next stage of the Inland Rail megaproject. The federal-funded project is building a 1600km rail corridor from Queensland to Victoria suitable for double-stacked freight. With Australia’s population expected to reach up to 49.2 million people by 2066, the demand for freight is expected to increase with already congested roads unable to keep up. “Australia’s growing population and an anticipated increase in domestic freight of more than 20 per cent by 2040 emphasise the importance of Inland Rail,” Inland Rail chief executive Nick Miller said. “Rail freight emits 16 times less carbon pollution than road freight and we will cut rail freight travel time between Melbourne and Brisbane by almost a third, from 33 hours to less than 24 hours.” It also means goods can get to the Port of Melbourne, the largest container and general cargo port in the country, much faster to be shipped overseas. So far the project has spent more than $3.7 billion in contracts and more than $424 million in regional economies. The entire project is expected to cost $31.4 billion, according to the infrastructure review, a significant increase from the original $9.3 billion when it was first proposed in 2017. Currently just $14.5 billion has been committed and the project is nearly 20 per cent complete. The megaproject will open up opportunities for developers across industrial, logistics and commercial projects around stations along the line. Regional centres and communities such as Euroa have supported the project, as the potential expansion and development opportunities off the back of necessary infrastructure upgrades becomes apparent. Rail Futures Institute president John Hearsch said more industrial land developed with railway access would be a necessity. “There is a bit of a shortage of suitable industrial land,” Hearsch says. “Governments and the industry as a whole need to be trying to incentivise developers, particularly of major distribution centres and so forth, to actually try and get sites that have access to a railway gauge or to the state railway.” At Euroa, the John Holland workers are focusing on a new railway station that will take two years to build. Construction is due to begin this year off the back of the site investigations now under way. “Euroa locals have played a significant role in the design and development of the Inland Rail project in Euroa,” Inland Rail project director Scott Anderson said. “The community has been very patient through the lengthy design process, but this year they will see the major construction start to deliver this significant and transformative project for Euroa.” The station is part of the 262km Beveridge-to-Albury leg of the Inland Rail line. The line passes through Albury and over the NSW-Victorian border to Wodonga, then continues to Illabo, Stockinbingal, Parkes, Narromine, Narrabri, North Star, and into Queensland and on to Gowrie, Helidon, Calvert and finally to Kagaru south of Brisbane. “In line with the recommendations of the independent review into Inland Rail released in April, 2023, the focus of Inland Rail is now on completing construction of Inland Rail between Beveridge and Parkes by 2027,” an Inland Rail spokesperson told The Urban Developer . At Parkes in regional NSW, a logistic hub is in the works, among the biggest builds of the project. At Parkes, the line will connect to existing freight lines linking Adelaide and Perth to the city in the Central West region. With opportunities for development opening up as the line completes, The Urban Developer took a look at progress to date. Inland Rail route Victoria The Beveridge-to-Albury line is being delivered in two tranches. Tranche 1 is nearly complete with a new Beaconsfield Bridge at Glenrowan and the Green Street Bridge at Wangaratta completed. Track lowering under the Murray Valley Highway at Barnawartha North has also been completed. Landscaping at the Beaconsfield Bridge site and station precinct modifications at Wangaratta will continue in 2025 along with replacing the Seymour-Avenel Road Bridge with a higher one. Tranche 2 includes Benalla, Euroa, Tallarook, Wandong, Seymour and Broadford. Design and site investigations are under way at Benalla, Tallarook, Seymour and Wandong with early works commencing in Euroa and Broadford. The track will be lowered under the Hume Freeway at Tallarook and Seymour and under new bridges at Short Street, Hamilton Street and Marchbanks Road at Broadford. At Benalla and Euroa there will be modifications to the station precincts to add carparks, pedestrian underpasses, lifts and platforms. The Anderson Street bridge at Euroa will be replaced by an underpass and the Wandong-Broadford bridge will be replaced with a higher bridge. ▲ The route for Inland Rail from Beveridge to Albury. New South Wales The project is divided into several sections in NSW: Albury to Illabo, Illabo to Stockinbingal, and Stockinbingal to Parkes. For the first section, design works are under way for track lowering at the Riverina Highway Bridge at Albury, the Billy Hughes Bridge at Ettamogah and the Pearson Street Bridge at Wagga Wagga. Pedestrian and road bridges will be replaced at Cassidy Footbridge, Edmondson Street Bridge, and Wagga Station Footbridge at Wagga Wagga, Albury Station Footbridge, Albury and the Kemp Street Footbridge at Junee. The Culcairn Footbridge and the Junee Station Footbridge will be removed and vertical clearance increased for the Murray River Bridge at Albury and the track modified for the Olympic Highway Underbridge in Junee. Approvals have been granted with site investigations under way for the 39km stretch of track from Illabo to Stockinbingal. Within the Stockinbingal to Parkes section, the Forbes Railway Station upgrade has been completed. ▲ An aerial view of Wagga Wagga Station. Track lowering at Wyndham Avenue and constructing a passing loop at Daroobalgie are nearly complete. Construction is under way to increase the vertical clearance for the Lachlan River Bridge. North of Parkes, planning is under way for low-impact works from Narromine to Narrabri. Inland Rail has started discussions with individual land owners along the Narrabri to North Star leg of the line and is in the midst of the environmental approval process. “For Inland Rail sections north of Narromine, our focus, in line with the recommendations of the review, is to deliver greater certainty as to the final cost and delivery of Inland Rail for the Australian Government,” the Inland Rail spokesperson said. “The Australian Government will take decisions on future funding and construction of Inland Rail once it has been given greater certainty over cost and schedule of the project north of Narromine by Inland Rail’s securing all regulatory approvals and land acquisitions.” ▲ A rendering of the new Euroa railway station in regional Victoria. Hearsch thinks there could be many other places in NSW that benefit once people have confidence in the project and its completion. “Dubbo hasn’t historically been a large freight generator,” Hearsch says. “But [...] once people are confident that this railway is going to be finished, within some sort of reasonable time scale, I think once that confidence increases, you could see a new freight hub developing somewhere in that area around Dubbo.” Queensland Geotechnical investigations are under way between Brookstead and Millmerran in the Sunshine State. Inland Rail is also awaiting environmental approvals for the section from the New South Wales—Queensland border to Gowrie. “Inland Rail will work closely with the Queensland and local governments and the community as we undertake necessary activities to further inform the design of the projects in Queensland,” the Inland Rail spokesperson said. “These activities include the completion of all regulatory approvals and land acquisition for the project corridor, along with surveys and onsite investigations to help provide more certainty that Inland Rail can be built to an agreed budget and timeframe.” Another contractor McConnell Dowell will be working on the Beaconsfield Parade Bridge works in Glenrowan, Victoria until the end of February 2025. Martinus Rail has established and started working on the Illabo site works and the Wirrinya Yard works. John Holland was contacted for comment prior to publication.

Inland Rail Megaproject Moves Ahead

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