QR National has signed a ten year contract with Rio Tinto to haul coal following the opening of its GAP project.
The contract with Rio Tinto will see QR haul around three million tonnes of coal annually from the Blair Athol and Clermont mines to the Abbot Point Coal Terminal.
According to QR, it leverages off the newly opened Gonnyella to Abbot Point (GAP) Expansion project.
The rail logistics company opened the line only days beforehand.
Dubbed "the missing link", it bridges the 69 kilometre gap between Queensland's Goonyella and Newlands rail lines.
"We’ve created a capacity increase on the Newlands system of up to 50 million tonnes per year, as well as provided the platform for potential future expansions of 200 million tonnes and more," QR chairman John Prescott explained.
He went on to say that the line will provide an extra 70 million tonnes of rail capacity over the next three years, and will have the ability "to move more than 300 million tonnes of coal per annum by 2015".
The GAP project was completed ahead of schedule, despite the difficulties faced from the Queensland floods early last year.
With the construction of this line higher capacity 106 tonne wagons can begin working on the Newlands system.
Image: QR rail carriages. Image source: Mining Australia website