Upgrade of Turrawan railway line a step closer

The Australian Rail Track Corporation has moved a step closer to starting construction on the upgrade of 35 kilometres of track between Narrabri and Turrawan.

Previously, the former federal government announced $44.7 million towards the project.

Once completed, the corridor will be capable of 25-tonne axle load trains travelling at 80kmh to replace the current ageing 20.5-tonne axle load track.

As part of the project, existing steel and timbers sleepers will be replaced with 55,000 heavy-duty concrete sleepers.

More than 82,000 tonnes of ballast will be used as a base for the new rail and sleepers.

Construction is expected to take 15 months to complete.

The review of environmental factors for the project was recently approved.

ARTC has made the review of environmental factors, along with a submissions report, available for the public to view online.

The submissions report contains public submissions on the planned upgrade and addresses key issues raised from the review of environment factors which was on public exhibition in April this year.

ARTC has already completed project development activities, including geotechnical investigations, track alignment, survey, and constructability assessments on the Narrabri to Turrawan Line upgrade, which involves the upgrade of the track between the existing Hunter Valley network and the planned Inland Rail track.

The upgrade will be delivered from Narrabri Coal junction at Whitehaven Coal, south of Turrawan, to the future interface with Inland Rail at Narrabri North with construction expected to begin later this year.

In a statement, ARTC said it will continue to update the community as work on the upgrade progresses.