Up to one-third of all imported cars arriving by sea at Port Kembla could be transported out of the region via freight trains on the South Coast commuter line, the State Government announced yesterday.
At a ceremony marking the completion of the transfer of the car trade from Sydney to Port Kembla, Ports Minister Joe Tripodi revealed a plan to run freight trains "at night and in the slots that exist already" between commuter services.
Sydney Ports Corporation has signed a letter of intent with Patrick Autocare which could allow the car mover to set up a facility for unloading the cars at Enfield for distribution across Sydney.
If the plan is approved, the facility would provide the capacity to move by rail up to one-third of the cars expected to be imported through Port Kembla each year. This would rise to 295,000 in 2011-12.
It could potentially reduce truck congestion in and around the port, on Mt Ousley and along Picton Rd - the routes now used by trucks to transfer the cars to western Sydney holding facilities.
Camden police and residents' groups have expressed concern about what impact the estimated 35,000 new truck movements a year might have.
Wollongong MP Noreen Hay said the plan, if approved, would improve road travel for motorists but indicated that the road network could have handled the extra movements anyway.
"We know truck movements account for only 1 per cent of total traffic on Mt Ousley and the southern highways," she said.
Mr Tripodi said the plan was a "far more immediate solution" to the issue of traffic congestion than a Maldon-Dombarton rail link, now being investigated by the Federal Government. That line could still be built if it was "commercially viable".
Critics of the rail plan are concerned about the potential impact extra freight trains will have on commuter services and the ageing Stanwell Park railway viaduct.
Opposition ports spokesman Duncan Gay said the idea had merit in "theory" but worried that the Government had experienced "a fair bit of trouble getting the commuter timetable to work as it is".
Minister for Transport and the Illawarra David Campbell said the "commuter services would continue to have priority and that freight would fit in around those services".
University of Wollongong transport expert Philip Laird welcomed the plan, saying the viaduct would not pose a problem. He suggested the Government should be aiming to move 50 per cent of cars via rail.
"There is an increasing scramble for train paths on the line but it does have the capacity for this," he said.
"It would have been much better had it been ready to go now ... but it's better late than never."
Mr Tripodi said any deal with Patrick would include a common user arrangement allowing any company that wanted to move cars by rail out of Port Kembla to do so.
A spokeswoman for Patrick, who approached the State Government with the rail plan, said "with rail three times more energy efficient than road it makes sense for us to propose a rail transport option."
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