The last Tangara train built in the Hunter rolled out in 1998. Now the New South Wales government says it will build trains there again, and it has put $12 billion behind the plan.
Premier Chris Minns made the pledge at the NSW Labor state conference. The money would pay for a new state-owned train manufacturing facility in the Hunter, run by a private manufacturer, along with a rolling stock pipeline stretching over 15 years. The government said that, instead of buying trains project by project from overseas, a long-term pipeline gives industry the certainty to invest locally, train apprentices and strengthen local supply chains.
Two sites
After what the government called an extensive search, two sites remain: a former coal mine at Teralba, and the Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot, near where the original Tangara fleet was built between 1986 and 1998. Final selection depends on due diligence and stakeholder consultation. Teralba would also need further talks with Glencore and its partners over buying the site.
The facility is expected to anchor more than 30 years of manufacturing. After the new Tangara fleet, the pipeline moves on to replacing the Millennium and OSCAR fleets in the 2040s, then the Waratah fleet in the 2050s.
Jobs and local content
The government expects up to 780 workers during construction and 550 ongoing jobs in the facility and its supply chains. Courtney Houssos, the Minister for Domestic Manufacturing and Government Procurement, said that for every factory job, another three and a half are created in the supply chain.
The plan follows election commitments to set a minimum 50 per cent local content target for rolling stock contracts and to begin procurement of the new Tangara fleet by the end of the first term. To start rebuilding the workforce, the government has set up two production lines of the $447 million Tangara Life Extension program at the Cardiff rail facility, which will employ 100 qualified workers and 20 apprentices.
The release took a swipe at the previous government. It said the Liberal-National Government spent 12 years offshoring transport manufacturing jobs, and that overseas trains bought under its procurement strategy did not fit the state’s tunnels or tracks.
“The Hunter knows how to build trains,” the government’s statement said. “Our job is to make sure it has the opportunity to build them again.”
Brad Pidgeon, state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union NSW, called it “an important moment in our campaign to bring train manufacturing jobs back to NSW.” Yasmin Catley, Minister for the Hunter, called it “a proud day for the Hunter.”
The government also pointed to a separate $6.5 billion, 10-year investment in the last NSW budget for electric buses and depot infrastructure. Next steps are finalising the site and a formal Expression of Interest for the contracts to build the facility and the fleets. Transport has already run supplier workshops so local firms are ready to bid. At the conference, police also removed a protester who unfurled a Palestinian flag.
Sources
- 'Taking control': Manufacturing of trains to return to the Hunter
- $12 billion investment to rebuild Hunter train manufacturing
