Companies big and small, including First Nations’, will be able to benefit from participating in Australia’s Inland Rail project, with new workshops scheduled throughout November for potential businesses.
ARTC Inland Rail Supply Chain Manager, Jason Manttan revealed the rail project is helping to upskill local and First Nations businesses to take part in the construction of the 1700 km freight line between Melbourne and Brisbane.
To complete Inland Rail, it will take 1,300,000 cubic metres of concrete to build, including construction of the largest diameter freight tunnel in the Southern Hemisphere at 6.2 km in length, through steep terrain in the Toowoomba Range.
For local businesses wanting to work on Inland Rail, there will be workshops held throughout November in different regions detailing the opportunities available and how to participate.
One of the larger contracts in Victoria, valued at $200 million, has just been awarded to McConnell Dowell on the Tottenham to Albury section. Around 305 km of existing rail corridor will be upgraded between metropolitan Melbourne and the border to NSW.
The contract also includes upgrades to existing infrastructure on the Seymour-Avenel Road bridge, part of the Murray Valley Highway, and McConnell Dowell will deliver corridor-wide works including signalling, track slews and overhead utilities. More than 170 people are expected to be directly employed over the life of the project which is expected to be completed in 2025.
Image: McConnell Dowell’s Tom Foley (left) and David Simms (second from right), and ARTC’s Matthew Hart (second from left) and Ed Walker (right). Source: ARTC Inland Rail.
About the author
Desi Corbett
Desi is the Editor of Concrete in Australia and at the helm of our magazine for 8 years. She was behind the Institute's weekly news bulletins from 2016-2021 and is now writing our focused news items. Desi has been an engineering news and features journalist/editor across all disciplines since 2013 - part of a 30-year career writing for a wide range of industries.