Port Botany Rail Duplication project approved, 900 trucks off the road

The State Government has signed off on a major new rail line project which is set to take 900 trucks off the roads of south Sydney each day. However, not everyone is pleased with the decision.

Artist image of what the twin tracks will look like near Baxter St in Mascot once the project is completed.

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A new railway track servicing Port Botany has been approved by the State Government which will fix a bottleneck problem on the existing line.

The Botany Rail Duplication project was approved by the Department of Planning after being fast-tracked to help boost jobs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The project will see 2.9km of new track built between Botany and Mascot on the existing freight-only Botany Line.

The port estimates the new line, along with freight terminal improvements, will take 900 trucks off the roads around Port Botany every day — or 328,500 a year.

The 2.9km single-track section (highlighted) to be replaced by twin tracks.

“The majority of the existing Botany Line has twin tracks with the exception of the section between Mascot and Botany,” the proposal stated.

“This single-line section currently constrains the ability for freight to enter and depart from Port Botany concurrently.”

A new track will be built parallel to the single-track section, allowing trains to come and go from the port concurrently.

Work is expected to begin next year on the new track and be completed in late 2024.

What the single-track section currently looks like near Baxter St in Mascot.

The Federal Government has contributed $400 million toward the Botany Rail Duplication project and an upgrade to another section of the railway network in Cabramatta.

As well as a new track, four new bridges will be built at Southern Cross Dr, O’Riordan St, Robey St and Mill Stream as part of the Botany Rail Duplication project.

Port Botany is the largest container port in NSW and train use is expected to increase on the Botany Line to about 45 trains per day (per direction) by 2030 compared to 20 trains per day (per direction) currently.

The four sites where new bridges will be built as part of the project.

The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is overseeing the project and welcomed the green light from the Department of Planning.

“Improving capacity of freight on rail at Port Botany is critical for the economic growth and prosperity of the country, with the amount of container freight handled by the port forecast to significantly increase by 77 per cent to 25.5 million tonnes by 2036,” Peter Winder, the ARTC interstate network general executive, said.

About half of the community submissions received during the project’s public exhibition period late last year raised concerns about noise and vibration impacts.

A train carrying a container load from Port Botany.

As part of its proposal, the ARTC advised it would use a track lubrication system to manage and reduce wheel squeal.

The approval from the Department of Planning included a condition that a review must be carried out in future by a noise and vibration expert “to confirm efficacy of operational noise and vibration control measures including track lubrication”.

Partial acquisition of five commercially-owned properties is also required under the project to widen the railway corridor.