New South Wales Rail Network

NSW rail network is about 9400 km of nominal route standard gauge. Rail network is managed by three government networks, Country Regional Network (CRN), NSW Interstate, Hunter Valley and Metropolitan Freight Networks and Metropolitan Passenger Network. While private sector operators that provides rail freight services has to apply to these three network managers for the track access. As the congestion is increasing on NSW roads, rail is the best way to ease congestion. So, it is necessary that government of NSW should support the sustainable intermodal terminal in regional and metropolitan areas, arrange separate tracks for only freight services and improve connectivity between key freight precincts and networks.

NSW most used port networks are Port Jackson, Port Botany, Port Kembla and Port Newcastle (NSW port network | Transport for NSW, n.d.). The most of the import and export trade is done through the port network in NSW. Port Botany is the largest container port in NSW which contributes around $3.2 billion to NSW’s Gross State Product. While, Port Kembla is known as the country’s biggest vehicle import centre and the Port of Newcastle exports large amount of coal to other countries. The port networks in NSW are managed by private sectors which are responsible for the commercial management of Port Kembla, Port Newcastle and Port Botany. Some of the ports are managed by Stated owned Corporation called the Port Authority of New South Wales. The Port Authority of New South Wales is also responsible for the safety of all the port networks in NSW like dangerous goods management, marine pollution, navigation services and emergency response. One of the challenges for the port networks of NSW is that the increase in trade volumes which is growing rapidly. Another challenge for port networks is the growing urban encroachment near ports and intermodal terminals.

Transport network in New South Wales (NSW) are port network, rail network, road network and air network. In NSW, road network is the most used network for freight movement in the state which is 185,000 km in length (NSW road network | Transport for NSW, 2018). Around 60 percentage of the freight moved through road network in NSW. Road network is completely controlled and managed by NSW government. Around 81 million tons of freight is moved between interstate every year through road network. One of the key challenges for NSW road network is the use of High Productivity Vehicles (HPV). HPV vehicles are large and lengthy in size that requires more road space while cornering and negotiating intersections. NSW road networks were not designed for this kind of vehicles so, there is need to upgrade road networks of NSW for the efficient running of all transports.