Taree will play a key role in moving freight between Sydney and Brisbane over the next few weeks after last week’s severe weather damaged and closed the main interstate rail line just south of Dungog.
With trucks in high demand, the Australian Rail Track Corporation and rail operator Pacific National have revived the Taree Railway Yard to help provide extra rail capacity for this freight.
Trucks will be using Taree Yard as a temporary stop-off point to unload steel products on to a daily train heading to Brisbane, ARTC Executive General Manager – Interstate, Peter Winder said.
“While the use of the yard is only short-term, it is providing us with a critical freight solution while we get the track repaired and back up-and-running again just south of Dungog,” Mr Winder said.
“We would like to thank the community in advance for bearing with us over the next few weeks while there are some additional truck movements in-and-out of town – we really appreciate their support in this time of need for the freight industry.”
The yard will be operational over the next three to four weeks starting from Friday morning 1 May. The hours of operation will be from 6am to 6pm, with corresponding truck movements around this time.
Train shunting activities within the yard aren’t expected to activate local level crossings and the train arrives at around 9am into Taree and will depart every day at around 6pm. There is currently expected to be one train per day, five days a week.
“We would like to apologise for the short notice around this activity and the inconvenience over the next few weeks. We thank the community for its patience with us, during this emergency solution,” Mr Winder said.
ENDS
Media Contact: Bas Bolyn, ARTC, 0477 340 658