Northern Sydney Freight Corridor Program

Project profile

The Northern Sydney Freight Corridor (NSFC) Program is a jointly funded initiative, supported by both the Commonwealth and NSW Governments, to improve the capacity and reliability for freight trains on the Main North Line between North Strathfield and Broadmeadow, Newcastle.

The program will include grade separation, track amplification, and passing loops to provide sufficient additional network capacity to meet long-term freight and passenger business requirements.

Scope of works

The key challenges for rail services between Sydney and Newcastle are:

• a shortage of holding loops (overtaking lanes)
• several steep inclines
• junctions causing delays at critical locations 
• passenger services restrict freight services in the Sydney metropolitan area

The program is designed to:

• improve freight train access through northern Sydney
• relieve a serious bottleneck
• create a more efficient freight rail network
• improve the frequency and reduce crowding on passenger services on the Main North Line

A scoping study has been carried out which has identified four projects as stage 1 of the program:

1:  North Strathfield Rail Underpass
2:  Epping to Thornleigh Third Track
3:  Gosford Passing Loops
4:  Hexham Passing Loop

Transport for NSW is responsible for the delivery of the projects at North Strathfield, Epping to Thornleigh and Gosford.  Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is responsible for the delivery of the Hexham project.

Benefits

The program will reduce the potential for delays on the rail network caused by freight and passenger trains competing for the same tracks between Sydney and Newcastle.
The program will also prepare the rail freight network to meet the demand for containerised goods created by the growing population.
An efficient rail freight network stimulates new businesses activities, creates new jobs and increases the productivity and competitiveness of Australia’s industries.

Transporting freight by rail also makes roads safer and it is better for the environment by:

• taking more than 200,000 heavy vehicles off the road per year
• reducing diesel use by almost 40 million litres per annum
• reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by more than 100,000 tonnes.

Status

The Commonwealth and NSW Governments have signed a historic intergovernmental agreement to commence work on the Northern Sydney Freight Corridor Program.

Survey work and geotechnical investigation for the projects has commenced. Over the coming months, services investigation and identification works will be undertaken within the rail corridor at North Strathfield, between Epping and Thornleigh and at Gosford. 

This work will involve excavation to identify the location of utility services. The information gathered from these activities will help to inform the detailed design of the projects.

Environmental assessments are currently being prepared to provide information on all environmental factors associated with the construction and operation of the projects within the NSFC Program, including noise and visual impacts and mitigation options.

To ensure the projects benefit from local input, the environmental assessments will be publicly displayed for members of the community to review and provide comment later this year.

Consultation with the community will be ongoing throughout 2012 and throughout the duration of the project.

Industry briefing – January 2012

The first industry briefing for the Northern Sydney Freight Corridor Program was held on 24 January 2012. The presentation is available to download (pdf 2MB).

North Strathfield Rail Underpass, Epping to Thorneigh Third Track and Gosford Passing Loops briefing presentations will be available for download on individual project pages.