Aurizon has condemned protestors who have put lives at risk by illegally entering the rail corridor and stopping a loaded coal train this morning in Brisbane. It was reported to Aurizon that the protestors against development of the Galilee Basin stood in front of the moving train that weighs thousands of tonnes.
Aurizon’s Head of Safety, Danny Harnedy said: “Everyone has a right to express their opinion but we simply can’t tolerate this dangerous and reckless behaviour by protesters, who have chained themselves to the locomotive.
“It is grossly irresponsible for these groups to jeopardise the safety of themselves and our train drivers, who can be traumatised by near-miss incidents like this.”
Aurizon is working closely with Queensland Rail as the rail network operator and Queensland Police to address today’s incident and the threat of irresponsible protester activity in the rail corridor.
It would appear that anti-coal activists are not interested in sensible, sustainable development of Australia’s high-quality resources nor the environmental benefits of Aurizon’s alternate proposal for the Galilee Basin in Queensland.
Aurizon’s proposal would use our existing rail infrastructure, and would require only 190 kilometres of new railway – half the distance of the ‘greenfield’ rail proposal. Compared to the ‘greenfield’ rail proposal, Aurizon’s plan will have less impact on the natural environment and agricultural land. Aurizon estimates it will reduce affected vegetation by more than 2,000 hectares, reduce the number of native title claims by four and reduce the number of land acquisitions by 51.