Regional Rail - Fleet Program Project

A first-class rail fleet for passengers travelling in regional NSW

The $2.8 billion Regional Rail Project is the first regional rolling stock public private partnership (PPP) in Australia, which will deliver a first-class rail fleet for passengers travelling in regional NSW, and between Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane, with all the facilities expected of modern rail transport.

Pacific Partnerships is part of the Momentum Trains consortium, working together with UGL and CPB Contractors to deliver the project as a design, build, finance and maintain contract for Transport for NSW. 

There are three elements being delivered by the consortium:

• Design and build the new fleet for regional NSW
• Design and build the new maintenance centre in Dubbo, New South Wales
• Service and maintain the fleet for at least 15 years at the Dubbo maintenance centre.

The new regional fleet will comprise 117 new carriages to form 29 trains consisting of 10 regional intercity trains, nine short regional trains and 10 long regional trains.  

The consortium is also responsible for completing the final fit out of the new trains within the new maintenance centre, and testing and commissioning of the trains in Australia.

Australia's first hybrid fleet

It will be Australia’s first bi-mode diesel-electric hybrid fleet, reducing emissions and pollution. The consortium is fitting out the new trains to use on-board diesel generators to generate their own power when operating outside of the electrified network. 

The consortium is also responsible for testing and commissioning the trains and will service and maintain the fleet in the Mindyarra Maintenance Centre. 

Meaning ‘to fix’ in Wiradjuri language, Mindyarra has been awarded an Infrastructure Sustainability Council (ISC) ‘Leading’ rating for design, the highest standard of sustainability in the industry. Sustainability initiatives include:

• More than 95% of annual operational electricity for the facility will be sourced from more than 3,200 on-site solar panels 
• More than 90% of non-potable water demand will be met by rainwater capture and reuse, aided by a train wash system that can recycle its own used water
• 100% of landscaping will be made up of native and drought tolerant species.

Rare bird recovery program

As part of its voluntary biodiversity offset program, the Mindyarra Maintenance Centre Project is contributing $80,000 to help efforts to save the endangered Regent Honeyeater.

Both Transport for NSW and CIMIC Group’s CPB Contractors have contributed $40,000 each. The contribution is going to the Taronga Western Plains Zoo, also in Dubbo, for purchase of essential equipment such as holding boxes, transport boxes and feeders for the birds.

It is estimated that less than 350 Regent Honeyeaters remain in the wild and of the additional 75 who call the Zoo home, there are 10 breeding pairs and their offspring who are key to the species’ future survival. 

As well as this support, Mindyarra is also planting and rehabilitating an area of 6,500 square metres on-site with Box Gum Woodland, which is a known Regent Honeyeater habitat.