Dubbo businesses and entrepreneurs are being urged to get on board the Regional Rail Project that is steaming ahead.
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Three approved tenderers for the project will be in Dubbo next week to look for suppliers of goods and services.
Regional Development Australia (RDA) Orana reports that the tender is in “three parts and includes local content requirements”.
“The three parts are build the maintenance facility, build the trains and then maintain the trains,” its executive officer Megan Dixon said. “The biggest opportunities for Dubbo lie in the building of the facility but also in the maintenance of the trains.”
In August 2017 the state government announced its intention to replace the entire regional rail fleet of XPT, Endeavour and XPLORER trains and build a maintenance facility at Dubbo.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro said an expression of interest would be issued for the design, construction and maintenance of the new trains and the new maintenance facility.
Regional Futures, Bombardier Consortium and Momentum Trains were named by Transport for NSW as approved tenderers for the project in late November.
This week Mrs Dixon called on Dubbo companies, and people “thinking about establishing companies”, to attend a project briefing on April 12 and “have a talk to the three tenderers”.
She said the project would generate “a new industry for us to some degree” and RDA Orana was focused on “facilitating the supply chain” and investigating “skills demand”.
Mrs Dixon said there would “definitely be opportunities for locals” in the construction of the maintenance facility.
“Depending on who the successful tenderer is, there may be an opportunity for some local content in terms of finishing the trains,” she said.
Trains needed everything from electronics, kitchens and toilets to upholstery, nuts and bolts, tinted windows and signs, the executive officer said.
“Then there might be some opportunity for those sort of services in the maintenance of the trains,” Ms Dixon said. “Sign-writing is a classic example. I can’t imagine that they would employ a sign-writer.” The maintenance facility may employ up to 70 full-time staff.
Transport for NSW aims to award the tender this year with the first of the new trains expected to hit the tracks in the early 2020s.
The project briefing will run from 4pm to 6pm at Dubbo RSL Memorial Club.
Registrations are being accepted at Eventbrite.
