Illawarra business leaders call for abandoned Maldon-Dombarton rail line to get back on track

A rail track which could pump an extra $2.8 billion into the Illawarra and western Sydney economies needs to be put back on track, business figures say.

Business leaders have called on the state and federal governments to rethink the “train to nowhere”: an abandoned rail link with the potential to open up swathes of new land to homes and increased business links worth $2.8 billion between the Illawarra and the booming western Sydney region.

The 35-kilometre long partially-constructed rail line between Maldon and Dombarton south of Sydney was abandoned in 1988 after significant earth works and land acquisition had already been done.

But with the burgeoning aerotropolis springing up from around Western Sydney Airport, business leaders in the Illawarra are calling for renewed investment from the state and federal governments to get the line up and running.

NSW Ports CEO Marika Calfas said the aerotropolis was a “game changer” requiring a new rail link between the Sydney’s west and the key transport hub at Port Kembla.

“If you look at it in that context, the Maldon Dumbarton line is absolutely critical,” she said, adding the current line between Sydney and the Illawarra which hugs the coast didn’t have capacity to handle the freight required to build a new city in the west.

The partially built Dombarton to Maldon rail bridge. Picture: NSW Government

“Going up the south coast line then going out west from there is not going to be an option going forward because there isn’t the capacity in the line.”

“The western Sydney area is going to have three million people – you’ve got to get cement there, sand, all those products to build housing and infrastructure – if you don’t have rail connectivity from Illawarra to western Sydney, all of that has to go by truck.”

“I think it has come off governments’ agenda – and it needs to come back on the agenda.”

NSW Ports CEO Marika Calfas said the aerotropolis needed a new rail link between the Sydney’s west and the key transport hub at Port Kembla. . Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Then-Federal infrastructure shadow minister Anthony Albanese pledged $50m to completing the line ahead of the 2019 election, but following that election loss the Commonwealth has no plans for the project.

Hectic weather events which knocked out the Moss Vale-Unanderra rail line which links the south and west of the state with Sydney for months last year, further exposing the need for a southwest rail link, Business Illawarra’s executive director Adam Zarth said.

The unfinished Dombarton to Maldon rail bridge. Picture: NSW Government

A 2021 study by the group found a south west Illawarra rail link would deliver an economic benefit of $2.8 billion by 2036 to the region.

“It’s been really endorsed as the only future rail solution to connect the Illawarra to Greater Sydney because of the frailty of the south coast line,” he said.

“If we’re to get real about economic development and growing our freight and supply chain, we need to utilise this.

“Once that western Sydney airport comes online, there’s a massive … employment and demand for better freight connectivity to keep our economy moving. It’ll support two cities.”

Wollongong MP Paul Scully in a pre-election pledge that Labor would spend $10m to investigate better connectivity between south west Sydney and the Illawarra, including analysing the role of the abandoned rail line in shoring up freight and transport.

“Over the last few years interruptions to passenger and freight services on the South Coast Line have become more frequent and longer during extreme weather events,” Mr Scully said, adding the Minns government would “investigate all infrastructure along the South Coast Line to determine options to improve, upgrade, and rebuild sections of the line to enhance the resilience of connections with Port Kembla, Southwestern Sydney, and the south coast”.