There is money in the state government’s kitty to fund improvements to the South Coast rail line, according to NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet.
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But it seems unlikely that might include a few billion for rail tunnel at Thirroul.
Mr Perrottet was a speaker at the Australian Financial Review National Infrastructure Summit, held late last month.
According to attendees at the conference, Mr Perrottet was bullish on the health of the state finances and said there was a “strong pipeline of infrastructure projects”.
When asked if those projects included rail upgrades for intercity areas like Wollongong and Newcastle, Mr Perrottet reportedly responded that “we are in a position to fund rail rail, both north and south, if required”.
When contacted about that statement, a spokesman for Mr Perrottet did not deny the treasurer said it.
“The NSW government continues to invest in the transport infrastructure to support our regions today and into the future,” the spokesman for Mr Perrottet said.
However, when asked to list what rail projects the government was looking to fund, the spokesman only listed those already in the pipeline.
These included a further $253 million towards the total cost of the 512 new intercity train carriages that will operate along the South Coast line, as well as the Central Coast, Newcastle and the Blue Mountains and the South Coast.
The spokesman also mention funding to replace the ageing XPT fleet, which did not service the Illawarra
The spokesman also pointed to the fact that the current budget also included $32.8 million for rail maintenance in the Illawarra region.
Mr Perrottet’s spokesman made no direct mention of any infrastructure upgrades, which included the recently-raised Thirroul tunnel.
Late last month it emerged that a rail tunnel between Thirroul and Waterfall was mentioned in a 2014 document looking into the rail corridor linking Wollongong to Sydney.
There was a suggestion that the tunnel – estimated to cost around $3 million – could cut 22 minutes off the travel time from Wollongong to Sydney.
Transport Minister Andrew Constance has said the tunnel was not the focus of the report and that it would be too expensive to construct.
It is not the first time a state government looked at digging a tunnel at Thirroul.
Labor Premier Bob Carr’s government pledged to construct a tunnel back in 1998, which would reduce travel times by 15 minutes.
But, in 2003, the tunnel was scrapped as being too expensive compared to other options to improve the South Coast line.
