https://www.railpage.com.au/railcams/bunbury-street/photo/29196762443
9101/9102 services are now running 3 locomotives regularly. With GOG away and therefore in absence of any other info is loading increasing requiring more power?What is the plan for the Mildura freight during the gauge convertion?
https://www.railpage.com.au/railcams/bunbury-street/photo/29196762443
Wakefield is going to shift to Manangatang, running trains from there and trucks to there during the 5 month works closure of the Yelta and Murrayville lines.
You wouldn't take the Mildura-Robinvale-Manangatang road routes, you'd take Mildura-Ouyen-Manangatang which are quite decent roadways.Wakefield is going to shift to Manangatang, running trains from there and trucks to there during the 5 month works closure of the Yelta and Murrayville lines.
Thanks but you would like a few small dollars on the line to Robinvale with loading there would be a better and importantly safer option. The road between Manangatang and the border is a goat track.
There is no natural advantage for a site at Robinvale over Manangatang, only extra costs. In fact, Illuka is hoping to use Manangatang as a mineral sands transshipment point after gauge conversion, so the hardstand etc could be reused.How do you figure that?
The Mildura and Robinvale regions are freight centres (as in freight originates from there), but Manangatang is not (well, not even remotely to the same level). Mildura-Ouyen-Robinvale (156km) vs Mildura-Robinvale (90km) is 66km (or 73%) further by road. I estimate (based on 12,000TEU of Wakefield containers) about $250K p.a. additional road damage costs for a Manangatang terminal compared to Robinvale.The Robinvale line is 'only' booked out between Annuello and Robinvale. Manangatang is the last point beyond which the use of 'modern' (G/XR class) locomotives is restricted. As PN prefer to use such modern motive power on their unit grain trains and GrainCorp is consolidating their rail loading sites, Manangatang is effectively the terminus of the Robinvale line. V/Line's ganger for the area still ventures as far north as Annuello in his hi-rail on a regular basis, however.
If you look at the Iluka Transport & Logistics Fact Sheet for the Balranald Mineral Sands Project, you'll see they are planning to go by road ~132km Balranald-Tooleybuc-Manangatang for Ilmenite (then railed to port for export) and ~249km Balranald-Tooleybuc-Manangatang-Ouyen-Lascelles-Hopetoun for HMC (then rail to Hamilton MSP for processing). So they are practically insane and want to keep using the Hopetoun Rail Loading Facility when it would cost stuff all to do that at Manangatang too (not to mention the more streamlined rail logistics).That fact sheet was published in June 2015, at least a month before the Victorian State Government announced that the Murray Basin Rail Project would include gauge conversion of the Manangatang and Kulwin lines and a rebuild of the Maryborough-Ararat line. They were assuming that they would need two different loading points because Manangatang is currently on a broad gauge branch line and was expected to not be converted. In light of this, I fully expect that Iluka Resources will be consolidating their rail loading point to Manangatang to take advantage of this excellent change in State Government policy.
My road damage cost estimates are: $195K p.a. more for the Manangatang Ilmenite and $1,284K p.a. more for the Hopetoun HMC, compared to a Robinvale Rail Loading Facility. Over the total mine life (~9 years), that's $13.3M of savings for government by Iluka using rail from Robinvale!Where's your submission to VicRoads and the Rural City of Swan Hill? I'm sure they'd be eager to hear of your wonderful plan to save them millions of taxpayer dollars by throwing money at upgrading ~54 km of railway to 21 TAL standard instead. Hint: you can't do it for $13.3M, let alone just $1.755M when you exclude your ludicrous assumption that HMC will be carted to Hopetoun over using a common SG loading facility at Manangatang.
Go shove your obnoxious post with a serious dose of superiority complex.The Mildura and Robinvale regions are freight centres (as in freight originates from there), but Manangatang is not (well, not even remotely to the same level). Mildura-Ouyen-Robinvale (156km) vs Mildura-Robinvale (90km) is 66km (or 73%) further by road. I estimate (based on 12,000TEU of Wakefield containers) about $250K p.a. additional road damage costs for a Manangatang terminal compared to Robinvale.The Robinvale line is 'only' booked out between Annuello and Robinvale. Manangatang is the last point beyond which the use of 'modern' (G/XR class) locomotives is restricted. As PN prefer to use such modern motive power on their unit grain trains and GrainCorp is consolidating their rail loading sites, Manangatang is effectively the terminus of the Robinvale line. V/Line's ganger for the area still ventures as far north as Annuello in his hi-rail on a regular basis, however.If you look at the Iluka Transport & Logistics Fact Sheet for the Balranald Mineral Sands Project, you'll see they are planning to go by road ~132km Balranald-Tooleybuc-Manangatang for Ilmenite (then railed to port for export) and ~249km Balranald-Tooleybuc-Manangatang-Ouyen-Lascelles-Hopetoun for HMC (then rail to Hamilton MSP for processing). So they are practically insane and want to keep using the Hopetoun Rail Loading Facility when it would cost stuff all to do that at Manangatang too (not to mention the more streamlined rail logistics).That fact sheet was published in June 2015, at least a month before the Victorian State Government announced that the Murray Basin Rail Project would include gauge conversion of the Manangatang and Kulwin lines and a rebuild of the Maryborough-Ararat line. They were assuming that they would need two different loading points because Manangatang is currently on a broad gauge branch line and was expected to not be converted. In light of this, I fully expect that Iluka Resources will be consolidating their rail loading point to Manangatang to take advantage of this excellent change in State Government policy.My road damage cost estimates are: $195K p.a. more for the Manangatang Ilmenite and $1,284K p.a. more for the Hopetoun HMC, compared to a Robinvale Rail Loading Facility. Over the total mine life (~9 years), that's $13.3M of savings for government by Iluka using rail from Robinvale!Where's your submission to VicRoads and the Rural City of Swan Hill? I'm sure they'd be eager to hear of your wonderful plan to save them millions of taxpayer dollars by throwing money at upgrading ~54 km of railway to 21 TAL standard instead. Hint: you can't do it for $13.3M, let alone just $1.755M when you exclude your ludicrous assumption that HMC will be carted to Hopetoun over using a common SG loading facility at Manangatang.
Line |
Location |
Infrastructure Involved |
Reason booked out / Comments |
Date booked out |
Reference |
Boort - Robinvale Line |
Manangatang - Robinvale |
Line booked out of service |
Booked out by Maintenance Track and Civil" was booked out due to track condition. Baulks have been fitted to the above corridor at KP 457:300 |
Boort - Robinvale Line |
Manangatang - Robinvale |
Maryborough to Yelta : |
405.931km |
Ouyen to Murrayville : |
109.103km |
Dunolly to Manangatang BP : |
248.169km |
Korong Vale to Sea Lake : |
139.617km |
TOTAL : |
902.820km |
1. As PN prefer to use such modern motive power on their unit grain trains and GrainCorp is consolidating their rail loading sites, Manangatang is effectively the terminus of the Robinvale line.
2. That fact sheet was published in June 2015... I fully expect that Iluka Resources will be consolidating their rail loading point to Manangatang to take advantage of this excellent change in State Government policy.My road damage cost estimates are: $195K p.a. more for the Manangatang Ilmenite and $1,284K p.a. more for the Hopetoun HMC, compared to a Robinvale Rail Loading Facility. Over the total mine life (~9 years), that's $13.3M of savings for government by Iluka using rail from Robinvale!3. Where's your submission to VicRoads and the Rural City of Swan Hill?
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