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 States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

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

Sydney Trains Sydney Trains is the brand name and operator of Railways in Sydney, suburban and intercity train services in and around Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The metropolitan part of the network is a hybrid urban rail, urban-suburban r ...

network. It forms part of a dedicated freight only corridor between Port Botany and Macarthur. The line is managed by the Australian Rail Track Corporation.

Route

The SSFL runs from Chullora 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 The Transport Asset Manager of New South Wales (TAM) is an agency of the Government of New South Wales under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988''. It was previously a state-owned corporation known as the Transport Asset Holding Entity of ...

network. The line commences at Chullora connecting with the Metropolitan Goods line from Port Botany, passing beneath the Bankstown line from where it parallels the Main South line. 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, covering contemporary railways in Australia. Overview The magazine is published by the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS), NSW Division. The first issue was in March 1 ...

'' August 1994 Page 8 In February 1992, the

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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 line was used by both

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

passenger and freight services.

Construction

In May 2006, the Australian Rail Track Corporation (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, also abbreviated as 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 in Australia, local gove ...

. 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 r ...

. 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 Government of New South Wales, Australia, established in 2004 pursuant to the ''Transport Administration Act 1988''. It was a division under the control of Transport for NSW, foll ...

network to be severed. The rest of the line opened on 21 January 2013. In 2019, a triangular junction to the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal opened.

Station works

The construction of the new line required modifications to several stations along the route. Sefton, Warwick Farm, Casula and Minto received upgrades. A new concourse was constructed at Cabramatta and the footbridge was extended at Leumeah.

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 regional train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and into Australian Capital Territory, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria (state), Victoria, Queensland and South Australia ...

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