Kelly
12-08-2009, 10:42 AM
THE much heralded Infrastructure Master Plan for the Townsville-Mount Isa rail line has finally been launched and will no doubt be a cause for much debate over the coming weeks.
The document provided to the North Queensland Register by the Department of Transport is entirely centred on the mining sector, and there is no mention whatsoever of the railing of cattle.
There were 350,000 head of cattle transported by rail in 2008 - 130,000 of these along the Mount Isa/Townsville rail line.
With the Bligh Government’s proposed upgrading of the line to increase haulage from five million tonnes per annum (Mta) to an eventual 20Mta to cater for expansion of the mining sector, graziers are concerned that the rail transport of cattle will be phased out.
Although there have been an assurance from the Minister for Transport, Rachel Nolan, that the government will not abandon the livestock industry and that cattle train services will continue, past practices by the government send a different message.
Manager of the Cloncurry cattle yards, Colin Saunders, said the Government began phasing out transporting cattle three years ago when it closed down the Mount Isa cattle depot.
"At that time we were sending up to 5000 head a week on five or six trains, then it dropped to two trains and now we only load one train a fortnight," Mr Saunders said.
He said if the cattle loading facility in Cloncurry was closed it would mean the loss of up to 10 jobs.
Apart from job losses in all cattle rail heads including Julia Creek, Richmond, Hughenden and Charters Towers, it is expected that the increase in the road train traffic on the Flinders Highway will cause further problems.
SOURCE: North Queensland Register (http://nqr.farmonline.com.au/news/state/agribusiness-and-general/general/cattle-may-miss-the-train-in-govt-masterplan/1587420.aspx)
The document provided to the North Queensland Register by the Department of Transport is entirely centred on the mining sector, and there is no mention whatsoever of the railing of cattle.
There were 350,000 head of cattle transported by rail in 2008 - 130,000 of these along the Mount Isa/Townsville rail line.
With the Bligh Government’s proposed upgrading of the line to increase haulage from five million tonnes per annum (Mta) to an eventual 20Mta to cater for expansion of the mining sector, graziers are concerned that the rail transport of cattle will be phased out.
Although there have been an assurance from the Minister for Transport, Rachel Nolan, that the government will not abandon the livestock industry and that cattle train services will continue, past practices by the government send a different message.
Manager of the Cloncurry cattle yards, Colin Saunders, said the Government began phasing out transporting cattle three years ago when it closed down the Mount Isa cattle depot.
"At that time we were sending up to 5000 head a week on five or six trains, then it dropped to two trains and now we only load one train a fortnight," Mr Saunders said.
He said if the cattle loading facility in Cloncurry was closed it would mean the loss of up to 10 jobs.
Apart from job losses in all cattle rail heads including Julia Creek, Richmond, Hughenden and Charters Towers, it is expected that the increase in the road train traffic on the Flinders Highway will cause further problems.
SOURCE: North Queensland Register (http://nqr.farmonline.com.au/news/state/agribusiness-and-general/general/cattle-may-miss-the-train-in-govt-masterplan/1587420.aspx)