A regional development group has called for funds for rail access to Townsville Port to be used for supply chain improvement.
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Chair of Mount Isa Townsville Economic Zone David Glasson said it made sense for the Commonwealth Government to divert the $150m allocated for the proposed Townsville Eastern Access Rail Corridor to other projects associated with the supply chain if the TEARC does not proceed at this time.
“MITEZ understands a business case conducted on the proposed rail access project indicated that current projected demand did not support the $400m project going ahead at this time,” Mr Glasson said.
“The (TEARC) was one of the top recommendations in MITEZ’s fifty year plan for the Mount Isa to Townsville supply chain and was designed to reduce bottlenecks and reduce the number of long trains travelling in and out of the Port of Townsville.”
The TEARC project is a proposed 8km rail freight line to connect the North Coast rail line directly into the Port of Townsville.
Mr Glasson said that design was based on around 20 million tonnes a year from mines in the North West.
“We believe the recent business case on the TEARC project did not factor in the 3-4 million tonnes a year of nickel that was previously accessing the North Coast line to rail product from the Port to the Yabula processing facility” he said.
“If the nickel refinery does recommence then this will have a big impact on the number of trains entering the Port and traveling through South Townsville and around the new stadium and when production from the North West ramps up, the bottlenecks will become a bigger issue which will require a re-think on the urgency for the TEARC.”
Mr Glasson said the concern of MITEZ members was if the TEARC project was not proceeding at this time that the $150 million already committed by the Commonwealth, should be diverted to other projects associated with with the North Queensland supply chain such as the $75m needed for the channel widening project at Townsville Port to cater for increasing vessel sizes.
“This would ensure that North Queensland has a competitive freight gateway for the benefit of the region,” he said.
“This is the critical first stage of the Port Expansion Project, which will ensure capacity to grow trade volumes over the next 30 years.”