Qld Coal rail project moves a step closer

The Queensland state government is closer to filling in a "˜missing link' in Queensland's coal rail network after reaching an agreement with property owners to secure a 69 km stretch of the proposed corridor.

Premier Peter Beattie said the corridor would connect the existing Goonyella and Newlands coal rail systems in central Queensland's Bowen Basin.

The government has been under fire from coal firms and the federal government for not acting quickly enough to free up bottlenecks in transporting minerals to central Queensland ports.

"This is about providing the infrastructure to deliver the coal exports to the world to continue to drive the economy," Beattie said. Completion of the northern rail link and the potential expansion of the Abbot Point Coal Terminal would allow an extra 35 million tonnes a year to be exported, he said.

Transport Minister Paul Lucas said the link would cost between $500 million and $1 billion to build.

"But the earnings that one could get out of it are enormous - worth up to an extra $4 billion a year," Lucas said.

A southern missing link between Theodore and Wandoan will be built by a consortium including QR and Xstrata.