Mount Isa rail link back in business

The flood-battered Mount Isa rail line reopened last night after being out of action for about a month. The line was initially closed on January 30 due to weather conditions in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Kirrily and remained cut due to major damage to 2km of track between Nelia (east of Julia Creek) and Cloncurry. One of the damaged sections of track. Queensland Rail head of regional Scott Cornish said recovery works involved clearing fallen trees and debris from the track, repairing 11 significant washouts and scouring, and replacing 255 sleepers. Eight track machines were mobilised and 7,500 tonnes of ballast was poured along the 2km stretch of track. "Thanks to the hard work of 90 Queensland Rail employees and contractors who were mobilised to accelerate the repair and recovery, the track was able to be reopened in under four weeks, despite challenging weather conditions," he said. The first train carrying containerised freight went through at 6pm last night (February 27). Inlander services, which have been replaced by road coaches during repairs, will resume normal operation from today. "We are extremely grateful for the hard work of all involved to get the line back up and running as safely and quickly as possible, re-establishing this important freight and passenger connection," Mr Cornish said. "We thank our freight partners, passengers, and the community for their patience as we worked to reopen the line." Queensland Rail plans to deliver more than $140 million in capital upgrades and $242 million in maintenance work on the line over the next five years. Cloncurry Mayor Greg Campbell said South32 Cannington mine and IPL's Phosphate Hill fertiliser manufacturing operation were among the businesses impacted by the rail cut. "We've worked closely with IPL to make sure that council-controlled or council-maintained roads are open as much as possible and opened as early as possible so their road freight option is able to work for them," he said. "The big issue with them is they only have a certain amount of storage for the fertiliser once it's manufactured, and if they run out of storage, they have to stop the plant." Cloncurry Mayor Greg Campbell. He said the company had built a major temporary storage facility after flooding in 2019. "They've also been utilising their standard storage and as soon as it was dry enough for the roads to be opened, they started trucking fertiliser out as well," he said. "And while this has been an issue virtually every year since the mine's been operating, we're getting to the stage where supply chains need to be consistent to create that economy of scale and efficiency. "IPL especially supports hundreds upon hundreds of jobs, primarily in Townsville and Brisbane. We need to make sure that these operations are not as affected. "We can't predict or build infrastructure for every weather event, but to be isolated every year, we have to start upgrading those weak links." IPL's Phosphate Hill operation in North-West Queensland.

Mount Isa rail link back in business

Industry Queensland

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