QUEENSLAND Rail crews have begun assessing damage to the regional network after Cyclone Ita crossed the North Queensland coast on Friday night, tracking along the North Coast rail line.
Senior Manager Regional North Shane Hinchcliff said the Queensland Rail network was currently
closed north of Mackay, with the exception from Townsville to the port which had been declared safe and open for service.
“Our crews have continued to monitor the situation and will now begin to assess the network to reopen it to our freight and long distance customers as safe and as soon as possible,” Mr Hinchcliff said.
“We have already completed track inspections between Tully and Cairns and have teams working on repairs.
“The corridor between Townsville and Tully still has areas of water over the line in numerous locations and we are waiting for it to go down before we can get in and carry out our inspections and assess any damage.”
Queensland Rail crews have moved further south to carry our more inspections today.
The typical damage being reported are sections of track washed out ranging from ten to a few hundred metres.
“We have crews out on the network starting to implement our recovery plan, including undoing boom gates and checking level crossing protection where it is safe to do so.
“We also have loaded ballast wagons on hand to begin fixing damaged sections of track and will provide regular updates on the reopening of sections of the network as information becomes available.”
The Queensland Rail Travel network is currently open from Brisbane to Mackay.
The first rail service to Mackay will be the Sunlander departing 1.25pm from Roma Street, Brisbane today (Tuesday April 15). Coaches will take customers from Mackay to Townsville, subject to road conditions.
The Spirit of Queensland due to depart from Roma Street at 3.45pm on Monday April 14 will now depart from Brisbane for Rockhampton today. Customers will be transferred by coach from Rockhampton to Townsville.
All Kuranda Scenic Railway services scheduled for today have been cancelled due to debris on the Kuranda range and are expected to resume tomorrow (Wednesday April 16).
Customers wanting more information about long distance travel options should visit queenslandrailtravel.com.au or call 1800 TRAINS (872 467).
