In December 2018, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Transport Minister Andrew Constance announced the government would investigate faster rail options along four routes.

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One of those was "the Southern Coastal Route", linking Wollongong and Nowra to Sydney.

High speed rail expert Professor Andrew McNaughton was appointed to oversee the process and release a report.

That report has been in the hands of the government since at least March this year but it is unclear when it will be released to the public.

"It's sitting with the Premier's Department at the moment," Mr Constance said in Wollongong on Monday.

"Invariably it'll be made public at some point."

Mr Constance said, despite it not being released, the McNaughton report was "feeding into" some of the work already undertaken by the state government, such as track straightening and track duplication.

In the Ilawarra and South Coast, this included plans for a crossing loop at Toolijooa and an extra platform at Bomaderry.

He said they were in "serious discussions" with the national government over fast rail.

"Fast rail in NSW is very much linking Coffs Harbour to Nowra," he said.

"It is about the development along the eastern seaboard and changing the way travel patterns are going to happen

"One thing we're seeing with the advent of COVID is people realise they don't need to live in the city to be able to work at some of their professions or their careers that they thought they had to be in the city for."

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