<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> The Registration of Interest process to construct the remaining sections of the Maldon to Dombarton rail freight line opens on October 13, and a deadline has also been announced by the NSW government. </span> <p>NSW minister for roads and freight Duncan Gay and minister for the Illawarra John Ajaka have urged investors to put up their hand to finish building the 35-kilometre rail freight line in the Illawarra.<br /><br />The Registration of Interest window will close at 2pm on 24 February 2015. <br /><br />“I said we’d have an update on this process in September and we are on track and delivering on our commitments,” Gay said. <br /><br />“The ‘Registration of Interest’ process will invite the private sector to submit proposals to design, construct, operate and maintain the rail freight line.<br /><br />“It proposes an innovative, market-based approach where the private sector would take the lead in managing the freight demand to ensure it is a commercially viable rail freight line,” he said.<br /><br />Transport for NSW’s Freight and Regional Development division will manage the process.<br /><br />Maldon to Dombarton is a partially constructed freight line which would connect the Main Southern Railway at Maldon to Dombarton, near Port Kembla.<br /><br />Ajaka said the Maldon to Dombarton rail freight line was an unfinished story in Australian infrastructure and the NSW Government wants the market to help determine when it should be completed.<br /><br />“The Maldon to Dombarton line would provide additional rail freight capacity directly in and out of Port Kembla and help cater for the forecasted doubling of freight movements in NSW over the next 20 years,” he said.<br /><br />Investigations completed by Transport for NSW and the NSW Bureau of Freight Statistics in the past have indicated existing rail infrastructure is sufficient to manage short and medium term rail capacity to Port Kembla.<br /><br />“However, as the freight task grows with the growing NSW economy and passenger services increase, it is important we have the right infrastructure in place for our rail network to operate at its peak efficiency in the future,” Ajaka said.<br /><br />Interested parties should visit <a href="http://www.tenders.nsw.gov.au">www.tenders.nsw.gov.au</a>.</p>
