Addressing Sydney’s Freight Rail BottleneckThe Australian Government is investing heavily to improve the flow of freight through Sydney.

In conjunction with the NSW Government and Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), over $2 billion is being spent to free up movement of freight by rail to and from Port Botany and on the Northern Sydney Freight Corridor. The Australian Government’s investment in these initiatives is part of its $4.8 billion program of works on the interstate rail network.

Together these investments help make rail freight a real competitor to road freight, address congestion in Sydney and benefit everyone in the national supply chain who needs to move goods. Removing congestion also means that commuters spend less time on the roads stuck in traffic, allowing more time spent with their families. The freight works also involve passenger station upgrades and free up rail capacity for passenger trains which also benefits rail commuters.

Southern Sydney Freight LineARTC has invested almost $1 billion to separate freight and passenger trains by building a 36 kilometre dedicated freight line in south west Sydney between Sefton and Macarthur.

The Southern Sydney Freight Line (SSFL) improves efficiency and enables freight services into the metropolitan network with no impact on passenger services.

Construction included a rail tunnel under Sefton junction, a rail bridge crossing over the passenger lines north of Glenfield to take the freight line onto the eastern side of the passenger rail network, and upgrades of three existing road bridges and six existing suburban rail stations along the line.

The SSFL commenced rail operations on 21 January 2013.

Southern Sydney Freight Line, Glenfield flyover and passing loop

Northern Sydney Freight CorridorThe Australian Government is investing $840 million towards the $1.1 billion first stage of the Northern Sydney Freight Corridor (NSFC).

The 155 kilometre NSFC between Sydney and Newcastle is a major bottleneck on the East Coast interstate rail network serving Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

The investment will reduce congestion and travel times and improve reliability for freight on the line which will remain a shared line for passengers and freight.

The Stage 1 program consists of:

• The North Strathfield Rail Underpass — construction will commence in early 2013;

• Epping to Thornleigh Third Track — the environmental approval process is underway;

• Gosford Passing Loops — construction will commence in early 2013; and

• Hexham Passing Loop — complete and commissioned into service June 2012.

The NSFC Stage 1 works are expected to be completed by September 2016 and will complement the SSFL.

Port Botany rail upgradesThe Australian Government is providing over $175 million to improving the Port Botany rail access arrangements to Port Botany.

Stage 1 of the Port Botany Rail Line Upgrade, completed in February 2012, removed a significant bottleneck between the Port Botany Rail Yard and port terminals and improved safety and operating arrangements.

Stage 2 works are well underway and involve the upgrade of the Enfield Rail Yard to provide train staging capacity to hold trains away from the congested Port Botany area as well as additional signalling to increase track capacity and enable remote control of signals from ARTC’s train control facility at Junee.

The rail upgrades will:

• lift capacity of the Port Botany rail line by more than 30 per cent, and

• increase capacity for container movements to and from the Port from around 700,000 containers per annum to around 1,000,000 containers per annum.

The rail upgrades mean there will be 300,000 fewer truck movements per annum on the road network in and around Port Botany when the works are completed in 2014.

Metropolitan Freight NetworkThe ARTC’s take up of the Sydney Metropolitan Freight Network (MFN), incorporating the Port Botany Rail Line, in August 2012 integrates the MFN with the SSFL and ARTC’s main Sydney–Melbourne rail line. Transfer of network control from RailCorp to ARTC over the next two years will allow one continuous network control for rail operators travelling from Melbourne and southern NSW to Chullora and Port Botany.

Moorebank Intermodal TerminalThe Australian Government is facilitating the delivery of a major intermodal facility at Moorebank to cater for a rail ‘port shuttle’ between Port Botany and the south west of Sydney, as well as warehousing and a separate terminal for interstate freight.

The Moorebank Intermodal Terminal will relieve the growing pressure on congested infrastructure around Port Botany and the M5 motorway and allow more freight to travel by rail. It will provide a jobs boost for south western Sydney as well as boosting productivity and economic activity.

The port shuttle terminal, expected to commence operations from 2017, will have capacity for 1.2 million containers. Additional capacity for 500,000 containers will become available at a later stage when the interstate freight terminal commences operation.

A Government Business Enterprise, the Moorebank Intermodal Company, has been established to oversee the selection of a private sector organisation or consortium to design, build and operate the site as an intermodal terminal. This approach de-risks the project and optimises private sector investment and innovation.

The total benefits of the project have been estimated at $10 billion. These include:

• Taking 3300 trucks per day off the road between Port Botany and South West Sydney from 2020.

• Faster freight transport and reduced costs to business.

• Reduced fuel use and diesel emissions.

• 1650 full time jobs during construction of the port shuttle terminal and a further 975 jobs during construction of the interstate terminal, with 1700 ongoing jobs in the region once the facility and associated warehouses are open.

Completed Port Botany Stage 1 works under lights