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Australian Rail Track Corporation’s upgrade of the rail corridor between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne continues with the opening of a $10.2 million passing loop at
Craven between Stroud and Gloucester in Northern NSW.
The passing loop opened by ARTC is approximately 1560m long to cater for 1500m trains passing through Nana Glen.
The loops will enable trains to pass each other efficiently as one train enters the loop and waits for a short period while the other train passes at regular speed.
The new passing loop complements loops recently constructed at Nana Glen in Northern NSW and at Tamrookum and Greenbank just over the Queensland border. The introduction of these new loops will lead to increased efficiency and capacity on the line.
ARTC Chief Executive Officer David Marchant said the new passing loop at Craven builds on the work already completed and will result in shorter transit times between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
“ARTC is pushing forward with our plans to upgrade the Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne corridor and make rail transport more competitive. This passing loop is another important milestone in the north-south strategy to cut the transit time from Melbourne to Sydney to as low as 10 hours 40 minutes and 15 hours 35 minutes between Sydney and Brisbane,” Mr Marchant said.
“The passing loops ARTC is constructing along the rail corridor, the new concrete sleepers, and the signal upgrades are, combined, perhaps the biggest rail project since the track was originally laid,” Mr Marchant said.
“The investment in this corridor upgrade will see rail becoming competitive, and as each 1500 metre long train can replace 100 semi trailers we could see less trucks on our major roads,” Mr Marchant said.