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The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) has published the 2015-2024 Sydney Metropolitan Freight Strategy to guide discussion around how rail can successfully service Sydney’s freight needs.
The release of the ARTC strategy comes on the back of a number of recent project announcements regarding new Sydney rail freight and intermodal operations.
“The key to a more liveable Sydney and enabling more freight volumes to flow more efficiently, is having a clear roadmap for the City’s wider rail freight network,” ARTC CEO John Fullerton said.
“We are well placed in the supply chain to investigate and lead the discussion around the current and future needs of rail freight in NSW, and this strategy is a first step to achieving this.”
The Strategy is the result of months of consultation with key participants in the Sydney metropolitan freight supply chain, and provides direction and discussion points over a ten-year timeframe.
“No other transport mode has the existing capacity available for the rapidly increasing NSW freight task and the ability to have an immediate impact on traffic congestion that currently gridlocks the city,” Mr Fullerton said.
“ARTC is in a unique position of being the one organisation that has significant operational involvement in import/export container logistics, while not having conflicting commercial interests.”
The document is the first time a position has been put forward following consultation with the key operators and users of the metropolitan freight rail system in Sydney.
“It is a strategy that reflects both customer need and the knowledge of the businesses that interface with the current rail network every day, knowing its opportunities and challenges intimately,” said Mr Fullerton.
“As the rail network owner ARTC can play a useful role in coordinating broader alignment between industry participants.
“Our main objective is to maximise rail volumes, and provide the leadership to achieve this result.
“This isn’t a Strategy that professes to have all the answers and we recognise there are still some areas of industry thinking that need to align, but we do believe it is the best snapshot of the situation today and the most comprehensive discussion document on the way forward,” Mr Fullerton said.
The ARTC Strategy complements wider NSW transport and freight planning documents and actions, particularly Transport for NSW’s move toward establishing the Rail Cargo Movement Coordination Centre (CMCC), which offers a critical opportunity to optimise rail freight efficiency in NSW.
The strategy is available at the following page: Sydney Metro Strategy
ENDS
Media Contact: Bas Bolyn, ARTC, 0477 340 658