ROADS
The closest the Illawarra came to securing major funding was the continuation of funding for the Mt Ousley interchange. See HERE Further details, including a pedestrian and cyclist bridge over the southbound access road, are provided HERE
RAIL
The closest the Illawarra appears to have come to federally funded rail improvements is the $50 million project jointly funded by the ACT and NSW governments, contributing $25 million each. See HERE
There was also last year’s announcement of $1 billion to better connect the new Western Sydney Airport to south-west Sydney. See HERE
Who knows — this could even lead to a Menangle-to-Yanderra rail deviation north of Mittagong.
Between Menangle, with its 1863 rail bridge, and the northern portal of the Aylmerton tunnel, there are 54.3 kilometres of track with “steam-age” alignment. This could be replaced with 36 kilometres of track built to modern engineering standards on the eastern side of the Hume Highway (Wentworth deviation).
The main benefit would be an average saving of nearly 20 minutes in transit time for passenger and freight trains. It would also reduce diesel consumption.
Meanwhile, the northern section of Inland Rail from Parkes to near Brisbane has been shelved — albeit with a small offset.
At a time when Australia should be reducing dependence on imported diesel, scaling back Inland Rail means more trucks on the Newell Highway and an additional 750,000 tonnes of emissions annually, including the use of an extra 270 million litres of diesel each year. See HERE
