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The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) welcomed its first service into its new Enfield Staging Facility this month – a port shuttle travelling between Minto and Port Botany.
ARTC CEO John Fullerton said the staging facility will provide significant efficiencies for
metropolitan rail freight services operating between intermodal terminals in the wider Sydney
region and Port Botany.
“Completion of this project is a big step toward supporting rail freight movements in and out
of Port Botany. It will continue ARTC’s aim of encouraging more freight onto rail by providing
an efficient, one-stop-shop for rail customers in Sydney,” Mr Fullerton said.
“Ever-growing road freight into the Port Botany precinct is unsustainable, so it’s critical we
make intermodal operations more efficient through projects like the Enfield Staging Yards.”
The staging facility will allow ARTC to hold and re-sequence trains, alleviating the congested
Botany Rail Yard and improving the efficiency of trains entering and exiting the Port area.
“The project will help reduce delays and increase rail capacity, strengthening rail’s claim as a
competitive metropolitan freight option for Sydney,” Mr Fullerton said.
“By encouraging more freight onto rail, we can also reduce road congestion through a more
environmentally friendly and socially-sustainable mode of transport, which is better for
business and better for communities.”
The Enfield project complements ongoing works by ARTC to improve Port Botany Rail Yard
and the Metropolitan Freight Network as well as the opening of the Southern Sydney Freight
Line (SSFL) in January of this year.
Construction involved 4000 metres of new track, including two new staging roads 1700
metres each in length, a new access road, drainage works and signalling improvements.
Signalling for the Enfield section of the network was also transferred from Enfield Signal Box
to ARTC’s Network Control Centre South (NCCS) in Junee on 2 December. NCCS provides
integrated network control for the Port Botany Rail Line, the SSFL and the Sydney-
Melbourne Main South line.
The Marrickville Junction to Cooks River section of the freight network will also be equipped
with a new signalling system and managed out of NCCS later this month.
The first train entered the new Enfield Staging Roads on 2 December 2013, A Qube Logistics operated port shuttle from Minto to Port Botany.