Improved Environmental outcomes along the Narrabri to North Star Phase 1 alignment

The Inland Rail team delivered a great environmental outcome in August, confirming the Construction Impact Zone (CIZ) for the Narrabri to North Star Phase 1 project has been reduced by nearly 50% from original estimates. This means the project has had less of an impact on native flora, fauna, endangered ecological community species and native animal populations.

Croppa Creek Bridge with rehabilitated riverbank and Koala trees in the background

We have reduced the Phase 1 CIZ to just 1,230 hectares from our original forecast of 2,426 hectares by efficient planning and co-ordination with our contractor Trans4m Rail, the NSW Department of Energy, Environment and Science and the Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

The reduction in the CIZ demonstrates Inland Rail’s goal to have the lowest possible environmental impact in our construction corridor.

Narrabri to North Star Phase 1 Project Delivery Director Peter Borrelli said it has been a real team effort to achieve the saving.

“I’m proud of the work everyone involved has done to achieve this important outcome. Our original goal was to reduce the project’s construction footprint by 25%, so to almost double that goal is a real testament to everyone’s commitment to developing and delivering environmentally sustainable construction practices while still delivering Inland Rail for the nation.” Peter said.

The reduced impact on native fauna was recently evidenced by a spotting of a koala mother and baby near culvert works in Milguy.

When the works supervisor was notified of the koalas’ presence, an exclusion zone was established, work in the area was stopped and advice was sought from the projects’ ecologist.

The CIZ reduction also sees local koala habitats significantly preserved, with the impact on these areas reduced by 57% from original estimates to 74 hectares.

The project team has also more than halved the number of biodiversity offset credits it originally anticipated to compensate for the unavoidable impacts on biodiversity from construction. We’ve also preserved an additional 100.97 hectares of koala friendly habitat on top of the original amount of biodiversity credits needed to offset construction impacts on these habitats.

We’d like to thank the NSW Department of Planning and Environment who helped to finalise and approve the project’s total biodiversity offset reduction requirement.

IMAGE: Croppa Creek Bridge with rehabilitated riverbank and Koala trees in the background.