NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie Section update – December 2025
As 2025 wraps up, we're revisiting a year of significant milestones on the NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie section.
December 19, 2025
Thank you to all our project communities for your support and feedback as we moved closer to achieving environmental approvals.
Revised draft Environmental Impact Statement public consultation
Between May and August, the project team facilitated a well-attended 12-week public consultation period for the NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie section’s revised draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
Submissions were received from community members, local businesses and organisations, and state government departments and agencies.
We’re now reviewing these submissions and preparing a response report for the Queensland Coordinator-General’s consideration.
Out in the field and visiting our communities
Throughout the year, our teams completed site investigations and surveys that will help to refine the NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie section’s future designs.
In 2025, our teams:
- conducted more than 4,000 hours of detailed surveys and geotechnical investigations. This included an Erosion Threshold Velocity (ETV) testing site to understand erosion impacts in known flood-prone areas
- completed 15 field studies, including ecological surveys
- attended four agricultural shows
- hosted two Community Consultative Committee meetings and
- held 12 community information sessions during public consultation and 10 drop-in sessions to talk to project communities about the progress of Inland Rail.
We’d like to thank all landowners and local communities for your continued support and collaboration throughout 2025. You’re welcome to continue to stop by our offices, ask questions and share your interest in the NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie section.
Looking ahead to 2026
Early in the New Year, we’ll continue our program of surveys and investigations at various locations along the NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie section.
We’ll also keep refining our designs by incorporating mitigation strategies identified during the revised draft EIS public consultation phase to minimise community impacts and improve safety.
To keep up to date with upcoming site investigations, please visit our works notifications page on the Inland Rail website.
We value local feedback and knowledge, and our team will host drop-in sessions early next year to continue our engagement with local communities and share progress on Inland Rail.
Holiday office hours
Our Toowoomba and Goondiwindi offices will be closed from noon Wednesday 24 December 2025 to Monday 5 January 2026.
For questions during this time or for more information about the NSW/Qld Border to Gowrie section, please reach out to our Stakeholder Engagement team via inlandrailqld@inlandrail.com.au or call 1800 732 761.
On behalf of Inland Rail, we’d like to wish you and yours a safe and restful holiday season and we look forward to working with many of you in 2026 to finalise our environmental approvals.
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.
