Inland Rail to greet showgoers in Junee

JUNEE residents and business owners will be able to find out all they need to know about the Inland Rail project and its impacts to the town at the Junee Show.

Inland Rail is proudly sponsoring the event, which has been running since 1888.

The project’s Stakeholder Engagement lead, Jessica Jackson, will be on hand to answer the communities questions and concerns, including when construction is likely to begin.

She will be joined by stakeholder team members from construction partner Martinus, which is also sponsoring the event.

Delivery director of the Albury to Parkes section of the Inland Rail, James Kennedy, said it was a great chance for locals to meet the team.

“Shows are a unique opportunity for us to speak with the communities in which we work and we are looking forward to meeting visitors to the Junee Showgrounds,” Kennedy said.

“I encourage community members who have questions about Inland Rail to visit our stand and speak with our Stakeholder Engagement team, all of whom live in towns along the alignment.

“This is an exciting time for Inland Rail and we are looking forward to meeting visitors to share our vision of how we will accommodate faster, more reliable freight and enable safer, less congested roads.”

It comes just days after Inland Rail received the final green light from the government to begin construction, after more than four years of rigorous environmental assessments and community consultation.

At this stage, construction on the 185km Albury to Illabo section of the Inland Rail project is expected to start in March 2025.

This will involve modifications to existing footbridges, road bridges, signal structures, overhead services and level crossings.

Junee’s near-century old Kemp Street bridge will be demolished and a new taller structure will be built in its place to allow for double-stacked container trains to safely pass below it.