Damage to the South Coast rail line at Coalcliff during the April storms and floods. Photo: TfNSW.
The NSW Government will spend $10 million to investigate options to upgrade the South Coast rail line but warns work will be “expensive, difficult and lengthy”.
Next week’s state budget will invest $10 million in an Illawarra Rail Resilience Plan which will begin the process of examining all rail infrastructure along the South Coast Line and develop options for upgrading sections of the line between Sydney and Wollongong.
NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the rail line was picturesque but it travelled through some of the state’s most challenging terrain.
“It’s imperative we act urgently to find strategic solutions to this line’s problems, which the community has been copping for far too long,” she said.
“We know work on this line will be expensive, difficult and lengthy, so the Illawarra Rail Resilience Plan will provide a path forward to ensure we make the most effective changes that deliver real results for passengers and freight operators.”
According to government figures, in the two years to May this year, 285 South Coast train services were cancelled and another 509 disrupted due to weather-related impacts.
The government said the 136-year-old line was acutely vulnerable to weather events and had a history of instability due to the geology and topography of the Illawarra escarpment, particularly between Waterfall, Thirroul, Wollongong and Port Kembla.
The line contains steeper terrain, more winding track, and sees heavier rainfall than any other section of track on the Sydney Trains network.
Most recently, storms in April caused a week of disruption for commuters and rail workers were on site around the clock to fix a large landslip at Coalcliff to restore services.
The government said freight had also been heavily affected by the rail line closures, disrupting the state’s supply chains and forcing many businesses to resort to road transport for essential goods, including steel, coal and grain.
Heathcote MP Maryanne Stuart said there was a desperate need to look at the rail network and maximise the corridor to provide improved travel times for commuters.
The Illawarra Rail Resilience Plan will assess the current performance of the existing network as well as alternative corridors to identify options on network-wide solutions.
It will compare options, such as upgrades versus new infrastructure, to determine the best value for taxpayers and meet the current and future needs of commuters and plans to build on and formalise studies and assessments and deliver a unified plan for the future of Illawarra rail.
The NSW Government has started some work to improve services for South Coast passengers, with an upgrade to the Coalcliff/Scarborough rail tunnel due to be completed by 2027.
Wollongong MP Paul Scully said improving the rail line was vital to getting freight off Illawarra’s roads and onto rails.
“With one of our state’s busiest ports operating out of Port Kembla and thousands leaving each day for work, it’s vital we have a reliable and resilient rail line connecting the Illawarra to the rest of our state,” he said.
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