"It seems to me that it's out of touch with reality," Cr Bradbery said.

"If given the opportunity it's well within the scope of our local, heavy industry."

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Speaking on Shoalhaven radio, former NSW Transport Minister and current Liberal candidate for Gilmore Mr Constance said that "no-one put their hand up" in the Australian market to locally build the 500 new train carriages.

At the time, Stadler Australia, the local arm of Swiss train manufacturer Stadler Rail, was shortlisted for the project.

In an advanced proposal presented to Wollongong City Council, Stadler suggested to use an under-utilised BlueScope warehouse in Unanderra to build the trains.

The proposal estimated that 600 people would be employed directly to assemble the trains and an additional 565 indirect jobs would be created.

The trains would also be maintained at the site off the Princes Motorway and adjacent to the South Coast Line.

Mr Constance said that the Stadler plan did not mandate local manufacturing.

"There was no guarantee that the Swiss-based bid would be building here," he said.

The successful bid was a consortium of UGL Rail, Mitsubishi Electric Australia and Hyundai-Rotem, with the trains built in South Korea.

The project has since been dogged by delays as tunnels and stations had to be retrofitted to accommodate the trains and unions have refused to work on the new trains due to safety concerns.

Secretary of the South Coast Labour Council Arthur Rorris said purchase decisions purely based on cost ultimately come back to bite the taxpayer.

"Going for the cheapest price doesn't mean you're going to get value for money," he said.

"You lose by not having the work created here, you lose by not having taxes and economic growth here, and then - as we found out - you often lose when the result has been made for different conditions."

Mr Constance said if elected he would support local manufacturing.

"I strongly support advanced manufacturing in Gilmore, and will continue to champion establishing an advanced Zero Emissions Bus manufacturing facility in the Illawarra."

Transport for NSW is currently testing the trains, with a clear date for introduction on the Central Coast and Newcastle line determined in the coming months.

A date for the fleet to arrive on the South Coast will be determined after that.

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