Queensland Rail can confirm that 307 km of the Mount Isa rail line was impacted by the recent floods between Cloncurry and Hughenden.
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Seventy-one bridges along the line were inspected and 16 have been confirmed damaged.
The line suffered approximately 40km of major track washout and 204 sites have sustained extreme erosion.
Queensland Rail’s CEO Nick Easy said in terms of the status of the Mount Isa Line, more broadly, the line remains impacted by flood damage between Cloncurry and Hughenden.
“All available resources are being mobilised to undertake repairs, including engineers and track teams from South East Queensland, to ensure we return the Mount Isa Line to full operation as soon as possible," Mr Easy said.
Queensland Rail were granted permission to the closed Flinders Highway, enabling limited access to the site at Nelia – 50 km east of Julia Creek – where a Pacific National train was inundated by flood waters.
Mr Easy said while ground conditions still weren't dry enough to accommodate the heavy machinery required to recover the train and wagons, they are hopeful that Pacific National can commence this process late this week.
“Queensland Rail’s focus has been on securing the safety and security of the Nelia site for the community and recovery teams, with an exclusion zone of 20 metres established around the train, and security personnel now on site.
"Fencing will be progressively arranged around the site as ground conditions allow. This safety exclusion zone is not impeding on neighbouring properties.”
“At this stage Queensland Rail believes the line can be fixed earlier than the 6 – 12 months that has been suggested and reported. We will continue to keep stakeholders and the community informed of these plans and timeframes.”
Mr Easy said an important part of the recovery work was correctly identifying and managing any environmental impacts caused by the spill of minerals into floodwaters by the impacted Pacific National train at Nelia.
“Any environmental impacts caused by this incident will be taken very seriously,” Mr Easy said.
“Early inspections indicate that a significant portion of the mineral concentrates remained in the train’s wagons, but 19 wagons carrying zinc concentrate and two carrying lead concentrate have sustained damage.
“Once site access is secured, an accurate assessment of product loss can be made," he said.
“These mineral concentrates have low solubility and are therefore expected to have low mobility in the environment. However, flood water velocity is likely to have resulted in some product mobilisation.
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