The federal budget and Illawarra transport

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.

                                                      Source: Rail Futures Institute Inc., May 2024

The new deviation on the NSW Main South Line would integrate well with the Maldon–Port Kembla Railway and share about two kilometres of common alignment near Wilton, where a new station could potentially be built.

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