The flooding that has closed the Stuart Highway and caused food shortages in the Northern Territory has prompted renewed calls for a rail link to Queensland.
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The Ghan rail line goes from Adelaide to Darwin and has been cut off by flood waters in northern South Australia.
Meanwhile there is also a rail link from Townsville to Mount Isa - though the passenger service on that line has also been suspended due to COVID.
However there is a tantalising missing link between Mount Isa and Tennant Creek that could have linked the the two states and territories.
The food shortage in Katherine has become so dire due to flooding in Central Australia local chamber of commerce manager Colin Abbott told the ABC this week he wanted to see a continuation of the line between Mount Isa and Territory.
He is not the first person to suggest this though Mr Abbott mentioned Alice Springs as a possible terminus when Tennant Creek would be a more direct route to Mount Isa, such as that taken by the 620km-long Northern Gas Pipeline.
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The rail line was one of the projects pushed by the Tennant Creek-Mount Isa Cross-Border Commission representing Barkly and Mount Isa City Councils but the Commission has been moribund since COVID.
There was talk of a feasibility study in 2017 but the plan attracted criticism from Townsville leaders who feared the line extension might negatively affect its economy.
Ross Muir, an economic development specialist with Nexidel Consulting said at the time it was a nation building exercise that deserved support.
"The connection would enable new mining and agricultural ventures, including potential mining of huge phosphate deposits in the Barkly region. It also would foster tourism links through northwestern Queensland," Mr Muir said.
In 2020 there was an audacious plan for a so-called "Iron Boomerang" line, proposed to link Queensland's Bowen Basin coal resources with WA's Pilbara region and its store of iron ore by 3300km of rail across northern Australia.
Though with a proposed price tag of $100 billion, it may not come to rescue the empty shelves of Katherine supermarkets any time soon.
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
