Inland Rail

THE Prime Minister has shown a lot of interest in upgrading rail lines as a help to overcome the present crisis.

We should not forget that we have a railway going west from Toowoomba which is almost unaltered since it was constructed a century and a half ago.

In the steam engine era, most trains in this area could not exceed 50km/hr. Sixty years ago, the advent of the diesel electric increased this to an acceptable 70km/hr which is a speed limit on the line for the majority of the rail traffic. This is completely unacceptable in the 21st century.

The alignment, for the most part, is in accordance with modern standards but the foundations and rail strength fall far short.

Upgrading this line as far as Roma or beyond would be a great addition to the plans to overcome this present crisis. It would not be overly expensive.

There is a more important reason which would also enhance the profitability of the planned Inland Rail.

In the middle of the 20th century, there was a strong move to extend the western line to Darwin. Nothing came of this, no doubt because the volume of traffic between Darwin and Brisbane was too low to justify the cost.

With the advent of the Inland Rail, perhaps it is not now beyond the scope of feasibility to construct such a connection linking up Gowrie with Sydney and Melbourne. Most of the route would be quite flat with nothing resembling a mountain range. It would link up with the Darwin Alice Springs line.

A modern container port could be constructed at Darwin to link up directly to the National Rail.

As the line, for the most part, is on sparsely populated areas, it would be ideal to operate a driverless train for most of the way.

The maximum speed may also be increased considerably over the present 110km/hr. It should be able to attract all Asian and European ships and relieve the congestion in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

The port itself would have a considerable workforce and give Darwin the incentive to develop.

It could be that this suggestion is purely pie in the sky but, in this era of fast commercial rail, I feel that it is worthy of close investigation. BETTY and PETER SHERIDAN