Tamworth freight train hub set to open in October

The Tamworth Intermodal Freight Facility in Westdale is expected to officially start operating from October 25, with three services a week, said Qube general manager Sean Hovey.

"We're pretty excited that we're nearly about to go live," Mr Hovey said.

Mr Hovey said the company was just waiting for the administrative buildings to arrive from Tasmania on October 9, which were basically remodelled shipping containers.

At this stage, the plans are to run the cargo trains to Sydney on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and return to Tamworth on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Each train trip will be able to carry about 50 shipping containers on average, and is most likely to import solar farm equipment and agricultural supplies, and export grain, cotton seed, and meat from local businesses.

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Mr Hovey said having a direct freight train link to the Sydney and Newcastle ports would open up more opportunities for the region and reduce the number of long-haul heavy trucks on the roads.

He said they would instead be using trucks to deliver from the Intermodal to local businesses.

"We've all been struggling - we run a lot of trucks in the Qube network as well, so we know that it is a challenging environment at the moment to get drivers," Mr Hovey said.

Plans for the hub began in 2017, with a later $8.1 million co-contribution from logistics company Qube Ltd and $1.5 million from the Tamworth Regional Council via NSW government funding.

Tamworth mayor Russell Webb said he was excited the Intermodal was reaching its completion date after many years since the council's first discussions with Qube.

"It can only bring good news for the people in our region who may wish to use that train line to transport goods to and from the ports of Newcastle or Botany [Bay in Sydney].

Nationals MP Kevin Anderson said "this is great news" and that "this is something our region needs to drive regional growth and economic development".

"Freight rail is another piece of the jigsaw puzzle when it comes to transport logistics to allow businesses to grow," Mr Anderson said.

"[And it] allows them to have cheaper freight options, and more efficient options, coupled with our road freight, and our air freight as well, which we're still working on."

A total $35 million of NSW state government funding was spent on reactivating the 5.1 kilometres of disused rail line between the new Intermodel in Westdale to West Tamworth. From there, it will hook up to the rest of the rail network via interchanges.

Mr Anderson said at the time the rail line was completed in December 2022, that it created about 100 jobs during the 12 months it took to reopen.

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