January 27, 2012
Genesee & Wyoming Australia (GWA) has Katherine up as a freight hub in the Northern Territory to facilitate the movement of goods to Darwin, following the derailment of its train.
The Australian based subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc says it has provided additional resources and facilities in Katherine to support the operations.
Train services are currently departing Adelaide and terminating at Katherine, where freight is forwarded to Darwin by road.
The GWA freight train was derailed on the Edith River Bridge last December 27th following damage resulting from flood waters associated with Cyclone Grant.
GWA is in currently in the process of repair work in a bid to restore rail operations as sopn as possible.
“The majority of the derailed rolling stock and freight containers have been removed from the site,” the company says in a statement.
“And GWA’s environmental remediation of the site is ongoing.”
However GWA adds the reopening of the rail line could be delayed by the discovery of additional damage to the bridge girders along with weather-related interruptions to the repairs.
“Crews are focused on restoring the abutments to the north and south ends of the bridge, where a detailed inspection of the bridge structure has revealed unexpected damage that will require additional restoration work,” GWA says.
It is now anticipated that freight operations will resume on February 14th.