‘The impact would be huge’: How an old railway yard could help a regional town

2 hours ago 6

Residents of a regional town on the cusp of change want state and federal governments to buy an old railway yard which has reportedly sat vacant for five years to provide more jobs.

Lithgow is an industrial town at its heart. Located on the western slope of the Blue Mountains, nearly 50 per cent of its current economic activity is generated through the coal-mining and coal-fired power industry, according to the council.

But as the country works to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, many in the town are worried about the future of local jobs. That’s where the Lithgow Locomotive Workshop – known by residents as “the loco” – comes in.

The Lithgow Locomotive Workshop is spread across 11 hectares.

The 11.6-hectare site was recently put up for sale by owners Pacific National, who purchased the workshop in 2002 as part of the acquisition of FreightCorp, a NSW government-owned rail operator.

With more than 1000 local jobs tied to coal and power generation expected to be lost during phased closures over the next 10 years, a spokesperson for Lithgow Council said the “impact would be huge” if the government acquired the Loco and activated it to provide new employment opportunities.

“Lithgow is at a critical junction economically. To ensure an economically positive future for Lithgow we need to ensure skilled, well-paying jobs for the existing workforce with eyes towards attracting new business to the region. The activation of this disused industrial land is just once piece of that puzzle,” they said.

“The acquisition would also signal confidence, from both the state and federal government, in Lithgow as a future economic centre located just two hours from Sydney.”

Dr Michelle Zeibots, a transport planner from the University of Technology Sydney and a resident of Lithgow, said there are fears among the community that the Loco could be used for land banking, which is why she believes it’s important the government takes ownership of the site and leases it to viable rail manufacturing and engineering businesses.

“We believe that if government owns the site and leases it out to companies that have a viable commercial use for the site, then we as a community won’t go through another episode where we’ve got a huge area of our industrial land within Lithgow just sitting there vacant,” she said.

“When you’ve got that much of your industrial land area sitting there doing nothing, it has a really deleterious impact on your economy. And as a community, we just can’t do that any more.”

Dr Michelle Zeibots believes a publicly owned Loco will hugely benefit the Lithgow community.

Zeibots believes Lithgow sits in a prime position: it’s the last stop on Sydney’s electrified rail network and where diesel-powered rail services to the central west begin. And with NSW experiencing a shortage of rail workshop space, she said returning the Loco to public ownership would not only enable the town to become a “rail manufacturing hub”, it would fill a gap when it comes to servicing rail and help to meet 50 per cent Australian-made targets for new rolling stock contracts.

“There’s all sorts of new and innovative things in rail and freight rail that we want to invent and manufacture in Lithgow,” she said.

“And if we do that, the state benefits, Sydney benefits, they suddenly end up with freight rail vehicles that don’t have the noise and exhaust emissions that you have with the current technologies … so the sooner we can get to work on these new freight rail sets and new passenger rail sets, the better.”

At its prime, Zeibots said the Loco employed more than 100 people.

Calls for the workshop to return to public ownership have received a huge amount of support from those in the community when more than 500 people signed a petition submitted to the NSW Legislative Assembly in February.

Lithgow residents want more jobs for the regional town.

A spokesperson for Minister for Regional Transport Jenny Aitchison said she was aware of the community support for the publicly funded acquisition of the locomotive rail yard workshop.

“The site requires extensive and expensive environmental remediation that would require a significant investment to comply with safety and environmental standards,” the spokesperson said.

“The issue is currently being considered within government.”

The Herald was told by a spokesperson for Pacific National that representatives are continuing to engage with Lithgow City Council in relation to the site.

“As a commercial business with more than 70 properties, we continuously assess our portfolio to ensure we are operating efficiently and maximise value for our people, shareholders and customers,” they said. “This includes periodically gauging market interest.”