The government of the Australian federal state of New South Wales (NSW) has announced a ten-year investment strategy to improve the railway network. The programme called Regional Network East/West Uplift (Rnew) focuses on the 2,300 km regional network, which carries 2.7 billion gross t of freight per year and offers more than 120 passenger services per week. The Rnew programme aims to identify future projects, provide the NSW government with a way to identify and prioritise investments, create the opportunity to better understand, manage, predict, as well as improve the regional railway network. It is also supposed to provide the government with the flexibility and agility to respond to the increasing volume of freight and changing network conditions, and to address emerging issues on regional railway networks for all users. The Rnew programme team will be consulting with the freight industry, rail transport operators and users, as well as local government from 2025, with the final strategy to be delivered in 2026.
