Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

Moorebank Intermodal Freight Terminal - APTNSW submission

posted Monday 8 December 2014

This proposal involves the development of approximately 220 hectares of Commonwealth owned land, currently occupied by the Department of Defence, for the construction and operation of the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal and associated commercial infrastructure; a rail spur connecting the site to the planned Southern Sydney Freight Line (SSFL) currently under construction; and one or more road entry points from Moorebank Avenue.

APTNSW made the following submission to the EIS:

Action for Public Transport (NSW) is a transport advocacy group active in Sydney since 1974. Our members are users of public transport services. We strongly support the use of rail freight in preference to road.
We support the MICL (Moorebank Intermodal Company Limited) project because it will take freight off roads around Port Botany and on the M5, putting that freight onto rail.
We note with approval that Qube/SIMTA (Sydney Intermodal Terminal Alliance) announced an agreement on 5 December 2014 to work together with the objective of the SIMTA site and the Commonwealth owned site to be combined and developed by SIMTA as a single integrated precinct.
On the matter of rail access we prefer the southern crossing as it preserves options for possible construction of freight facilities on the SIMTA site and has minimal impact on parkland and residents.
On the matter of noise and light pollution, we think that residents inside the 40dB noise zone should be offered the installation of sound insulation. We think that residents on the Casula escarpment should be offered the fitting of shutters for light pollution. These treatments should extend to Wattle Grove when the SIMTA site is incorporated.
We also think that a heavy vehicle inspection station should be located in the MICL grounds.
Turning to congestion in the area, we think that rail access to the Hunter and Newcastle area should be improved to permit more use of rail freight. We think that the Maldon-Dombarton railway should be completed, again to facilitate rail freight away from the limitations on rail freight in peak hours around Sydney. Both of those measures would encourage reliance on rail freight rather than road.
We think that planning for a western intermodal terminal should start now. Sydney's population seems set to grow to at least seven million (although not more than nine million), with corresponding growth in freight traffic.
We think that SIMTA/MICL should operate an extended-hours shuttle bus between Moorebank Avenue and Liverpool station. We note that the service provided by the 901 bus is inadequate for the likely needs of workers from the terminal.

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