Northern Sydney freight corridor program: supporting economic growth through effective and efficient rail freight transport

Australia needs to invest in infrastructure for freight rail to keep up with population growth, respond to changes in logistics, support business and jobs and provide a level of connectivity consistent with expectations for our global cities. In partnership with the Australian Government, the NSW Government, through Transport for NSW (TfNSW), has developed the Northern Sydney Freight Corridor Program; a number of proposed infrastructure projects to improve rail services along the Sydney to Newcastle rail corridor. This paper discusses the process that was undertaken to find the best solution to address the issues facing the transportation of freight on the Main North Line. The goal was to define and scope projects for the Northern Sydney Freight Corridor Program that would meet the requirements of the two main stakeholders: ARTC who is responsible for access on the national interstate network, and RailCorp as the operator of passenger rail and provider of third party access for freight on the passenger network.