road and rail options mt m to mourilyan port, page-4

They stopped the kuranda train going all the way to cairns a few years ago as the curving bridge near the water fall had become weak..so now the train only goes back and forth around Kuranda, hence the sky rail...and theres no way they will allow coal trucks down the kuranda road as its too tight and whinedy in most sections, plus they would seriously affect the tourism traffic..in saying that im not sure if there is an alternative route from Mareeba to cairns that can take heavy traffic.
The road from Mareeba/Atherton tablelands to the gulf is ok to Georgetown then becomes a vertual single lane, already cattle road-trains frequent this route and its a constant long-paddock for graziers, so some major roadworks over approx.350kms would be needed to Normantan then from there to Karumba.