NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie Section update – Spring 2025
We’ve made solid progress on the environmental approval process in recent months. The NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie section’s revised draft Environmental Impact Statement was on public consultation from May to August.
October 15, 2025
Thank you to everyone who attended a session, visited a drop-in stand, joined a community group or one-on-one meetings or made a submission.
Your feedback is helping shape the future of the NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie project. Submissions received during the public consultation period for the revised draft EIS will guide potential design refinements.
What’s next for our environmental approvals
The Queensland Coordinator-General has shared submissions received during the project’s revised draft EIS public consultation period. We are currently reviewing and addressing these submissions and preparing a response report to the Coordinator-General.
The Queensland Coordinator-General will prepare a final evaluation report for the project that will detail its conclusions regarding the project’s environmental impacts and proposed mitigation measures.
Following this, the Australian Government will prepare an evaluation of the project on specific environmental matters, which concludes the assessment and approval process for the project.
We’ll keep you updated as we continue working through the environmental approvals process for the NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie project.
What’s happening in the field?
Our team is completing field surveys and investigations across various locations along the NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie section through to the end of the year.
In October, we’re continuing cultural heritage surveys to assess for areas of significance within the project footprint. We’re committed to best practice preservation and management of cultural heritage throughout all stages of project delivery.
The surveys are carried out by our specialist cultural heritage officers and involve walking over the proposed corridor to identify cultural heritage sites and objects.
We’ll keep landowners and stakeholders informed throughout the survey process. For general enquiries please call our Stakeholder Engagement team on 1800 732 761 or email inlandrailqld@inlandrail.com.au.
Read our updated fact sheet
Contact
If you would like to contact Inland Rail’s NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie team, you can either call, send an email or visit one of our offices.
| Phone | 1800 732 761 during business hours or leave a message and we'll get back to you. |
| inlandrailqld@inlandrail.com.au | |
| Inland Rail Pty Ltd, PO Box 3093, Toowoomba, QLD 4350 | |
| Visit us at these locations: | |
| Toowoomba | 143-145 Margaret Street, Monday to Friday, 8.30am-4.30pm |
| Goondiwindi | 28 Marshall Street, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10am-2pm |
The NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie section of Inland Rail will connect one of Australia’s most productive farming regions to markets across the country.
Inland Rail is a 1,600km fast freight rail line, now under construction, that will link Melbourne and Brisbane via regional Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. The route has been divided into 12 sections, to allow for a staged delivery of the open-access fast freight rail line.
The NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie section involves delivering approximately 217km of track – 149km of new track and 68km of upgraded track – which runs from 18km southeast of Goondiwindi to Gowrie Junction, northwest of Toowoomba in Queensland.
This section of Inland Rail will connect to the North Star to NSW/Qld Border section, enabling existing narrow-gauge track in Queensland to connect with standard gauge track in New South Wales. Learn more about dual-gauge track for the NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie section.
