Figures in Central Queensland believe Gladstone can play a role in getting Inland Rail freight onto ships.

A NEW report has made the case for Inland Rail to Gladstone and using the central Queensland centre as the key port.

This is being promoted as an alternative to the Brisbane option, with a solution yet to be established as to how best to get freight from Acacia Ridge to the Port of Brisbane.

Gladstone City Council, with other nearby councils, asked Central Queensland University chancellor and engineer John Abbott to prepare a submission to the federal government to reconsider the Port of Gladstone as Queensland’s Inland Rail terminal point.

Mr Abbott asked consultants AEC Group to research the destination’s viability.

Earlier this this year, AEC Group found that “this alternative route can reduce the cost of Inland Rail to the Australian Rail Track Corporation [and the federal government] by $4.8 billion”.

Gladstone is 500km north of Brisbane.

It has been reported that the Gladstone model is closer to original concepts proposed back in the 1990s.

The report proposes two rail options to Gladstone:

• A coastal route from the northern terminus of the Inland Rail at Acacia Ridge following Queensland Rail’s existing narrow gauge North Coast Line corridor via Corinda and Roma Street.
• An inland route connecting the existing narrow gauge West Moreton System to the Moura Line via a 214km greenfield railway between Wandoan and Banana along the proposed Surat Basin Rail link alignment. This route would be aimed at unlocking coal reserves in the Surat Basin.