RURAL landholders across a vast stretch of Central Queensland from Alpha to Bowen are contemplating yet another player in the race to establish a rail corridor to transport coal out of the state's next big coal-mining hub, the Galilee Basin.
This week Queensland Co-ordinator General Keith Davies declared QR National's Central Queensland Integrated Rail Project (CQIRP) a "significant project". It is now subject to completion of an environmental impact assessment and economic feasibility studies.
On Tuesday, mining magnate Clive Palmer took to Twitter to confirm he is launching an $8 billion lawsuit against QR National for "breach of confidentiality and misleading conduct" over the rail project.
Mr Palmer's Waratah Coal had developed its own rail plan to transport coal from its China First Coal Project in the Galilee Basin near Alpha to port.
Waratah Coal is one of at least three mining companies - including Hancock Coal and Adani Mining - who also have their own proposed rail corridor plans on the table to service their individual mining interests in the Galilee Basin.
QR National's CQIRP is a proposed multi-user railway designed to transport coal from the Galilee Basin to eastern Queensland ports.
In a statement, a QR National spokesperson told Queensland Country Life that its plan "aims to consolidate tonnages on a single corridor and deliver an economically feasible solution for coal producers".
"A single multi-user corridor will minimise impact on the environment, regional communities and valuable agricultural land.
"QR National is in discussions with a range of companies planning to export coal from this region and a number of parties about commercial and operational aspects of the proposal.
"However, we do not comment on commercial arrangements," the statement said.
"Clearly we understand and respect that there are proposals being progressed by other companies; however, we believe our proposal has genuine merit and can be progressed in parallel with other proposals."
Rural landholders at the centre of the ongoing debate over all of the proposed Galilee Basin rail corridors claim none of the plans address landholder calls to establish one rail corridor to the west of the Belyando River to prevent damage across the region's floodplains.
Co-ordinator General Keith Davies visited landholders in parts of the Galilee Basin in June 2011 to hear their concerns about the prospect of proposed multiple rail lines crossing the region's highly productive grazing and farming land and its floodplains.
Clermont district cattle producer and spokesperson for landholder representative group, Corridor to Coast Galilee Network (C2C), John Burnett, said parts of the QR National plan would still impact on the region's floodplains.
"It's an attempt to get one line - I can see that. But it's more than just about having one line - it's about having one line in the right place to minimise the impact," Mr Burnett said.
"I'm just concerned it's still not investigating the alternative proposal, which would be to put the rail corridor out on the western side of the Belyando River until it gets to the Adani Mining site, and then come across in one corridor from there."
It seems Hancock Coal would prefer to stick to its plan of building its own rail corridor out of the Galilee Basin.
In a statement released last month, Hancock Coal said in relation to its 495km Alpha to Abbot Point railway plan that it would not act as a levee on the floodplain and that it had "undertaken probably the most extensive flood modelling of any railway to date".
"The work shows that as a result of the design, including approximately 127,000 metres of culverts (if they were put end to end) and 20 major bridges, Hancock will not be impacting on overland water flows nor causing interruption to flood events, both of which are recognised as important to the rural landscape," the statement said.
"Hancock and its majority owners, GVK believe we are certainly at the forefront of 'opening up the Galilee Basin'."
Hancock Coal's Alpha to Abbot Point railway has been designated as an "infrastructure facility of significance" by the State government.
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