The Southern Sydney Freight Line (SSFL) is a freight only railway line in the south-western suburbs of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

, Australia. The line was built to segregate freight trains from the

Sydney Trains Sydney Trains is the operator of the suburban passenger rail network serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The network is a hybrid urban-suburban rail system with a central underground core that covers over of track and 170 ...

network. It forms part of a dedicated freight only corridor between

Port Botany Port Botany is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Port Botany is located 12 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Randwick. Port Bo ...

and Macarthur. The line is managed by the

Australian Rail Track Corporation The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is an Australian Government-owned statutory corporation. It operates one of the largest rail networks in the nation spanning 8,500km across five states, 39 worksites and more than 50 First Nations. ...

Route

The SSFL runs from

Chullora Chullora, a suburb in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown local government area, is located 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. Th ...

to Macarthur. It is an unelectrified, bi-directional single track with 1,800 metre long passing loops at Leightonfield and Glenfield.Tackling Congestion on the Sydney Rail Freight Network
Minister for Infrastructure and Transport 5 February 2009 Apart from its end points, the SSFL has no interface with the

Transport Asset Holding Entity Transport Asset Holding Entity of New South Wales (TAHE) is a state-owned corporation of the New South Wales Government in New South Wales, Australia, established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988''. It was converted and renamed fr ...

network. The line commences at Chullora connecting with the Metropolitan Goods line from

, passing beneath the

Bankstown line The Bankstown Line (numbered T3, coloured orange) is a commuter rail line operated by Sydney Trains in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It serves Canterbury-Bankstown and parts of the Inner West and Western Sydney. The Bankstown railway ...

from where it parallels the

Main South line The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Inverca ...

. Just to the north of Glenfield, the line crosses to the west of the Main South line via a flyover. It joins the Main South line to the south of Macarthur station.

History

Minto Railway Station Southern Sydney Freight Line

Delays to freight services operating to and from Sydney via the Main South line had long been a problem, but it wasn't until the formation of the National Rail Corporation that any plan was devised to resolve it.The Glenfield - Ingleburn Passing Loop Project ''

Railway Digest ''Railway Digest'' is a monthly magazine, published in Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis s ...

'' August 1994 Page 8 In February 1992, the

Federal Government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

allocated $71 million for the construction of a dedicated freight line from Chullora to Macarthur as part of the One Nation infrastructure project. It soon became apparent that to complete the project would cost in the region of $250 million. Instead the funding was used to complete a number of smaller projects, including building a 6.6 kilometre relief line between Glenfield and Ingleburn. This single, non-

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

line was used by both

CountryLink CountryLink was a passenger rail and road service brand that operated in regional areas New South Wales, Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne. Originally created as a business unit (or sub-brand) of the State Rail Authority of New South Wales, it l ...

passenger and freight services.

Construction

In May 2006, the

(ARTC) revived the project. Approval was obtained in October 2008 and construction commenced in early 2009, focusing on the section between Sefton and

Cabramatta Cabramatta ('Cabra') is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cabramatta is located south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Fairfield. Cabramatta ...

. By August 2009 construction was under way along the whole corridor. In November 2009, poor planning led to the ARTC suspending the project for 10 months while it relocated

utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and ...

. In September 2010, the ARTC announced the resumption of the project. On 24 June 2012, the Chullora to Leightonfield section opened allowing the connection from the BHP yard at the latter to the

RailCorp Rail Corporation New South Wales (RailCorp) was an agency of the State of New South Wales, Australia established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988'' in 2004. It was a division under the control of Transport for NSW since the latter' ...

network to be severed. The rest of the line opened on 21 January 2013. In 2019, a

triangular junction In railroad structures, and rail terminology, a wye (like the'' 'Y' ''glyph) or triangular junction (often shortened to just "triangle") is a triangular joining arrangement of three rail lines with a railroad switch (set of points) at each cor ...

to the

Moorebank Intermodal Terminal The Moorebank Intermodal Terminal is an intermodal terminal under construction in the south-western Sydney suburb of Moorebank. History In 2010, the Department of Finance and Deregulation conducted a feasibility study into the development of t ...

opened.

Station works

The construction of the new line required modifications to several stations along the route. Sefton, Warwick Farm,

Casula Casula is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 34 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Liverpool. Casula is the first suburb immediately so ...

and

Minto Minto may refer to: Places Antarctica *Mount Minto (Antarctica) Australia *Minto, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Minto railway station * Minto County, Western Australia * Parish of Minto, New South Wales Canada * Minto City, British C ...

received upgrades. A new concourse was constructed at Cabramatta and the footbridge was extended at

Leumeah Leumeah () is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 52 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown. It is north of the suburb of Campbelltown ...

Services

The line is normally only used by freight services, but during engineering possessions on the adjacent Transport Asset Holding Entity tracks,

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, along with limited interstate services into Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Queensland and South Austral ...

XPT services have travelled on it. Freight trains travelling to the

Intermodal Terminal continue to travel on Transport Asset Holding Entity tracks.

Future

A further passing loop between Cabramatta and Warwick Farm stations is scheduled to open in 2023.Botany duplication and Cabramatta loop approved
''Rail Express'' 13 August 2020

References

External links

Southern Sydney Freight Line Project website
{{Railway lines in New South Wales, state=collapsed Railway lines in Sydney Railway lines opened in 2013 Standard gauge railways in Australia 2013 establishments in Australia