The Newlands Rail System (approximately 170km in length) is located at the northern end of the Bowen Basin in North Queensland.  It also incorporates part of the North Coast Line, as well as the rail line to the Port at Abbot Point.

The current system services mines at McNaughton, Newlands, Collinsville and Sonoma, conveying export coal to the Port of Abbot Point and domestic coal to the Queensland Nickel Refinery and the Bowen Coke Works.

With its recent upgrade, the Port at Abbot Point has coal capacity of 21 Mtpa.  Infrastructure plans by QR and the Ports Corporation of Queensland (PCQ), specifically the proposed Goonyella to Abbot Point Expansion Project, will cater for an increase in capacity at the port to 30 Mtpa by the end of the first quarter of 2010 and 50 Mtpa by December 2010.

The Almoola Crossing Loop and the Aberdeen Crossing Loop projects identified in the 2006 Coal Rail Infrastructure Master Plan for the Newlands System are now incorporated into the Goonyella to Abbot Point Expansion (GAP) Project.

The proposed GAP Project aims to further increase capacity from Goonyella through the Newlands System to Abbot Point.

Currently, the Project's focus is to increase capacity through to Abbot Point to 50 Mtpa by December 2010.  With industry support, QR is investigating a gradual increase in capacity to 75 Mtpa in 2012 and on to a future 100 Mtpa.

A key part of the GAP Project is the Northern Missing Link, a 69 km railway that will see the Newlands System link with the Goonyella System to ease capacity constraints in the Bowen Basin thereby increasing Queensland's export capacity.

More information is available on the GAP Project page.