The Inland Rail programme is a major national interstate freight route project connecting regional Australia to domestic and international markets, and comprises a proposed 1,700km freight rail line connecting Melbourne to Brisbane.

LatStudios is preparing the Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) components of five separate Inland Rail Packages. These are being prepared for Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) by Future Freight Joint Venture (FFJV), a collaboration between AECOM and Aurecon.

These packages span 375 km of the track from New South Wales into Queensland, including:

• North Star to Border (approved)
• Border to Gowrie
• Gowrie to Helidon
• Helidon to Calvert
• Calvert to Kagaru.

The assessments consider the integration of the freight rail infrastructure into the visual setting and character of the northern New South Wales and Queensland landscape including settlements located along the alignment. They identify opportunities to mitigate identified effects, including through urban design and landscaping.