Funding programs to fix roads and rail infrastructure in NSW will build an efficient freight transport network in regional NSW.
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Funding to fix roads and rail networks in NSW will:
- improve road safety
- enable larger freight loads to be moved faster
- reduce freight costs
- take pressure off roads
- enable primary producers to earn more money
- strengthen local economies
- create stronger employment opportunities.
Fixing Country Rail
The NSW Government is inviting expressions of interest for rail infrastructure upgrade projects that improve the movement of freight to and from regional NSW.
The $150 million in funding will be then allocated to rail infrastructure owners and managers to carry out approved works.
This first round of funding is part of the $400 million Restart NSW commitment to deliver a highly functional transport network across NSW for moving freight in and out of regional areas.
The $1.1 million upgrade of Burren Junction, one of the programs piloted last year, has already:
- removed 70 trucks from the roads network every time an additional train leaves the station
- saved produced up to $9 a tonne
- reduced in wagon loading times.
See the projects completed through the 2016 pilot program
Fixing Country Roads
The first two rounds of the ‘Fixing Country Roads’ program have so far provided $90 million in funding for 138 projects across regional NSW.
The NSW Government will invest over $30 million to improve five regional roads in the Barwon electorate, which covers 44 per cent of the land mass of NSW:
- $21.3 million in funding to Brewarrina Shire Council for massive construction and sealing of 96 kilometres of Goodooga Road, which will result in a one-way trip saving of $200 in fuel and one hour in time
- $1 million in funding to Cobar Shire Council, which will see the 11.8 kilometres of gravel between two sealed sections of the Grain Road upgraded
- $1.9 million in funding for the Coonamble Shire and Warren Shire Councils to upgrade Warren Road
- $5.4 million in funding for Walgett Shire Council for the upgrade of the remaining 25 kilometres of the unsealed Bugilbone Road
- $2 million in funding for the Narrabri Shire Council to upgrade over 20 kilometres of Pilliga Road between Pilliga and Wee Waa.
Improving major roads means Barwon farmers, who produce around 1.8 million tonnes of grain a year, will be safer on the roads, spend less time in transit and deliver more produce to ports.
The funding for these five projects was in addition to the $200 million Fixing Country Roads program to help facilitate priority projects.