Cessnock Council on board with freight rail corridor

BY DANIELLE RIES and JESSICA ROUSE

Released earlier this month, a report from Infrastructure Australia revealed the Hunter Valley freight rail corridor is one of seven corridors in Australia which should be protected.

Cessnock City Council has welcomed and supported the finding that protecting the corridor for the future will benefit the community long term.

Mayor Bob Pynsent believes it to be vital to the future of the Hunter from both an economic and connectivity perspective and would particularly like to see progress on the Lower Hunter Freight Corridor.

Mayor Bob Pynsent Image cessnockadvertiser.com.au

"The opportunity to grow transport for infrastructure links right across the Lower Hunter and as I said as our population grows we need those infrastructure projects to enable the connectivity between the regions."

Transport NSW has undertaken preliminary investigations into the Lower Hunter Freight Corridor and have identified a number of key benefits including improving congestion and urban amenity in Newcastle.

"As our local government area grows, the demand for train connection with Newcastle becomes imperative and preservation of the corridor will certainly assist in that," said Mayor Bob Pynsent.