Once complete, it will connect Melbourne and Brisbane along a new route inland through Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland that allows for the use of double-stacked freight trains.

[11][12] In September 2005, the federal Department of Transport and Regional Services commissioned a feasibility study into a Brisbane–Melbourne railway link, outlining four possible 'sub-corridors' between Junee and Brisbane.

[13] In May 2008, the newly elected Rudd government allocated $15 million to the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) to develop a route alignment following the Far Western sub-corridor as detailed in the 2006 study.

[14][15] The corporation's preliminary analysis was released in May 2009, which showed that the cheapest version of the inland railway would cost $2.8 billion to build and would allow freight to be moved from Melbourne to Brisbane in just over 27 hours.

On 7 October 2022, the Australian Government announced an Independent Review of Inland Rail,[23] after reports of a cost blowout to a projected $31b and delay in completion to 2030-31.

[24] Undertaken by Kerry Schott AO, the Review report, released in April 2023, “confirmed that Inland Rail is an important project to meet Australia’s growing freight task, improve road safety and to help decarbonise our economy”.

The Government agreed to 19 of the Review’s recommendations,[25] including that the route be shortened to extend from Beveridge in Victoria to Ebenezer in Queensland and that existing rail lines be used wherever possible to minimise additional impacts on the environment and communities.

[32] The route continues along the line from Stockinbingal to Parkes, with construction works to modify sections of the 173 kilometres (107 mi) of track starting in late 2023.

A further 186 kilometres (116 mi) of existing railway between Narrabri and North Star will be upgraded, with a bypass at Camurra to remove a long hairpin.

In October 2018, INLink, a joint-venture between BMD Constructions and Fulton Hogan, was awarded a $310 million contract for stage 1 of the project between Parkes and Narromine.

A route through the Pilliga forests was announced by Minister for Infrastructure, Darren Chester, in November 2017, despite initial plans by the ARTC to build the line through surrounding farmland.

In September 2017, Chester announced the Yelarbon to Gowrie section would be built through the Condamine River floodplain, which reached its highest recorded level in the 2010–11 Queensland floods.

[47] Although the ARTC reaffirmed the Yelarbon to Gowrie route would remain across the floodplain,[48] in June 2020, Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack, ordered a review of the alignment.