THE former United Group Limited (UGL) site could be reopened to assemble the State government’s new country train fleet.
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Member for Myall Lakes Stephen Bromhead has raised this with transport minister Andrew Constance.
The UGL closed its Taree operations in 2013. The site remains unoccupied.
The NSW government will reinvest $300 million in savings from an order for new trains for the Sydney train network into the new country fleet.
The contract for the new XPT fleet will also set a target for 100 per cent assembly in NSW, with a preference towards regional NSW.
Mr Bromhead has called on the NSW government to investigate Taree as a potential site for the fleet’s manufacture.
The target means that tenderers for the new fleet will be actively competing to offer the best possible deal for regional NSW. This will include assembling significant components in the regions, as well as stabling and maintaining the trains in regional NSW.
Earlier this year, the government announced it would commit a further $50 million to speed up the delivery of new XPTs, which would see the procurement process kicking off in the first half of 2017- two years earlier than promised.
“It’s fantastic that a faster, modern, comfortable train fleet is on the way for rail passengers in the bush but it’s even better that there’s been a commitment to assemble large parts of these new trains in the areas where they will be used,” Mr Bromhead said.
“NSW is the best performing economy in the country but we need to make sure that people in regional areas are reaping the economic benefits too.
“The old UGL rail manufacturing site still exists and is in perfect condition and it still contains much of its equipment. To produce trains in Taree would be a huge boost for the Manning/Great Lakes community and economy.
“I believe that ‘trains for the bush’ should be regional trains manufactured in regional NSW. It is my submission that Taree would be the perfect location for the manufacture of those trains,” Mr Bromhead said.
The new fleet will replace the 60 XPT passenger cars currently operating on the NSW TrainLink network.
It is expected that the new XPT trains will be on the tracks by the early 2020s.