Slow regional passenger rail speeds along the Newcastle–Sydney and Wollongong– Sydney rail lines result in lengthy travel times that are generally longer than car travel.
Express services take 1 hour 28 minutes between Wollongong and Sydney, and 2 hours 37 minutes between Newcastle and Sydney.
This service level reduces accessibility to key destinations, and limits the connectivity and integration of the regions. It puts heavy reliance on private vehicle transportation along the corridors and limits opportunities to develop greater economic synergies between the three cities, which would benefit productivity.
The current level of rail capacity and quality of service reflect a range of operational and infrastructure constraints, including winding alignments across the Hawkesbury River (Newcastle–Sydney) and the Illawarra Escarpment (Wollongong–Sydney).
The proposal includes a range of options for improvements to the lines:
- an initial set of operational and fleet improvements
- targeted fixed infrastructure improvements (for example, new deviations to eliminate curvatures and flatten grades)
- a new rail crossing of the Hawkesbury River and Illawarra Escarpment
- station improvements and capacity enhancing track amplifications.
The Newcastle–Sydney and Wollongong– Sydney rail corridors were identified in the Australian Government’s Faster Rail Connecting Capital Cities and Orbital Regional Centres prospectus, which was announced as part of the 2017–18 Budget.
In 2019, the Australian and NSW Governments completed a strategic business case that identified various faster rail options from Sydney to Newcastle. The business case for faster rail options from Sydney to Wollongong was completed in March 2021.
In the 2022-2023 Budget, the Australian Government committed:
- $500 million for planning, corridor acquisition and early works for the Sydney to Newcastle High Speed Rail component
- $1 billion for the Tuggerah-Wyong faster rail upgrade
The Australian and NSW Governments are working in partnership to further investigate the high speed rail/fast rail network options and outcomes.
The Australian Government has also committed $8 million to further investigate faster rail options Sydney to Wollongong in partnership with the NSW Government.