Main West Rail Line Capacity Enhancement Program

The Main West Rail Line forms part of an important passenger and freight network in NSW that extends through the Blue Mountains, Central West, North West Slopes and the Far West regions.

The Main West Rail Line Capacity Enhancement Program funded rail infrastructure improvements to help this critical route be able to meet expected growth in the NSW regional freight task.

Background

The Main West Rail Line is essential to transporting goods between Central West communities, capital cities and the rest of the world.

The 825-kilometre corridor currently accommodates the freight movements of: containerised meat, cotton, grain and oil seed; steel and coal; bulk domestic grain and flour.

Freight volumes moved along the Main West Rail Line are forecast to grow from 8.84 million tonnes in 2021 to 11.5 million tonnes by 2056. Overall, rail freight will increase by 30% by 2056, highlighting the importance of the Main West Rail Line as a key freight corridor.

Stage 1

Under Stage 1, $21. 5 million funded the construction of two crossing loops at Georges Plains and Rydal that were delivered in 2019.

Stage 2

Under Stage 2, $43.4 million funded the construction of four crossing loops, delivered in 2021.

Project Name	Funding Amount
Polona Crossing Loop	$7.9 million
Pinecliffe Crossing Loop	$12.6 million
Maryvale Crossing Loop	$13 million
Bumberry Crossing Loop	$9.8 million

Future projects

As part of residual Stage 2 funding of the program, a further $2 million was allocated for the investigation of potential future projects on the Main West Rail Line in Stage 3.

Transport for NSW is strategically pausing further Program activities to allow for the RNEW Program initiative to launch and industry engagement and stakeholder engagement be carried out to confirm priorities and proposed investments over the next 10 years.

Main West project business cases prepared for potential future rounds of the Main West Capacity Enhancement Program will be transferred to RNEW Program for review to ensure a holistic and strategic approach is taken to the planning to rail network upgrades into the future.

For more information visit the RNEW Program webpage.