Regulators have approved a deal that would see Genesee and Wyoming take over the line from Freightlink.

Freightlink was forced to spend about $300,000 to right a freight train and fix a section of track after a derailment in Alice Springs at the weekend.

Its chief executive John Fullerton says the transfer to the new owner should take place in a month or two.

“We’re currently working with the new owners, Genesee and Wyoming to work with the Northern Territory and South Australian governments on the transfer of the concession which is the 50-year concession to operate on the railway.”

via ABC News

Heavy cranes were used yesterday to put the freight train’s two engines and a carriage back on the tracks.

Freightlink says it is repairing the track and expects it to reopen this afternoon.

Its chief executive John Fullerton says southbound Ghan passengers were taken off the train last night and put up in hotels.

“The southbound Ghan has been delayed by 24 hours but that will be the first train through this afternoon when the tracks reopen,” he said.

“That’s sitting just north of Alice Springs this morning and the northbound Ghan, which is arriving into Alice Springs this morning, shouldn’t be affected at all.”

Priority freight has been taken by truck to the Top End.

via ABC News

Read more about the derailment in our forum…

The train was carrying a load of grain when a fire started in electrical components about midday.

The train is expected to remain at Redhill until the damage has been examined.

via ABC News

Residents at both meetings, organised by Unley Council, voted to write to Labor and the Coalition to seek funding for a northern bypass line in the 2014 federal budget.

Unley Council wants a $2.4 billion bypass to run north of Adelaide but the Commonwealth has opted instead for a $700 million upgrade of the existing line, which has long been the target of local complaints about noise and traffic disruption.

Mayor Richard Thorne said now was the best time to push the issue, before the August 21 federal election. “The busiest freight line in Australia is running through your suburbs and increasing in size and terror every year,” he told the July 28 meeting at Unley Council.

“I haven’t found anybody in Adelaide who doesn’t want to see freight moved from Adelaide … but we’re banging our head against a wall.”

Forestville resident Peter McInerney described the decision to stick with the existing line as “appalling”.

“The idea of dealing with that level of rail freight and traffic in the future is outrageous,” he said at the meeting.

“I don’t know how they can’t see it needs to be changed.”

However, Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure officer Mark Williams said the bypass was too expensive.

“Freight movements are essential to the state,” he told the meeting.

“As freight grows, the case to remove trains from the area may improve later on.”

Freight trains along the Adelaide to Melbourne corridor are expected to increase from 86 to 172 a week by 2025 and to grow from 1.5km in length to 1.8km, causing traffic delays of up to 15 minutes at level crossings on Cross Rd, Victoria St and Leader St.

More than 500 people were expected at a public meeting organised by Mitcham Council in Blackwood on Friday, July 30, after the Eastern Courier Messenger’s deadline.

Messenger News

About 150 frustrated residents attended a Mitcham Council public meeting to push for a northern bypass at the Blackwood Hills Baptist Church last Friday, July 30.

Boothby’s Labor candidate Annabel Digance was scheduled to address the meeting, but did not attend. Ms Digance did not respond to the Hills and Valley Messenger’s inquiries before presstime.

The meeting resolved to write to the leaders of the major parties at State and Federal level, calling on them to fund a northern bypass by 2014.

It follows the release of the Federal Government’s Adelaide Rail Freight Movements Study in June which, much to the angst of long-suffering locals, found the cost to realign or upgrade the track would outweigh any social or environmental benefits.

Share your opinion: View and discuss the Adelaide Hills rail bypass proposals.

Earlier in the night, Boothby MP Dr Andrew Southcott (Lib) announced that, if elected, his party would suspend any current or future work on the existing line and “revisit specific elements” of the Federal study, prepared by consultants GHD. However, he did not pledge to fund a northern bypass.

Rail Freight Committee chair and Mitcham Cr Mark Ward welcomed Dr Southcott’s announcement but said more needed to be done.

“It’s much stronger than the position of GHD’s paper but it needs to be even stronger,” he told the Hills and Valley Messenger after the meeting.

“If the (Federal) budget is going to be in surplus by 2013, then let’s commit to a bypass by 2014.”

Eden Hills resident Stephanie McCarthy said Dr Southcott’s commitment needed to go further.

“At least it was better than nothing, at least it indicated support for it (northern bypass) and I would like to see the GHD report thoroughly pulled apart and some sensible action begun immediately,” she said.

Bellevue Heights resident Bob Hunt, who double-glazed his home to mitigate wheel squeals, said both parties needed to commit to a northern bypass.

“They’re all waiting around for somebody like Infrastructure Australia to come up and say ‘Yes, you should go with that’,” he said.

via Messenger News