About 200 people have turned out to an industry briefing on the planned Regional Rail Project maintenance facility in Dubbo, signalling recognition of its potential to boost incomes, businesses and the economy.
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Thursday’s briefing was led by Transport for NSW that reported the following day of a good roll-up.
“Transport for NSW held a very successful industry briefing about the future Regional Rail maintenance facility, where we called for local businesses to engage with the three shortlisted tenderers for the project,” its spokesman said.
“As well as Transport for NSW and other NSW government agencies attending, key representatives from the three Regional Rail Project tenderers, the Bombardier Consortia, Momentum Trains and Regional Futures, also took part in the event.”
The spokesman said more than 100 businesses “around Dubbo” and more than 200 people attended the briefing.
”Locating the train maintenance facility in regional NSW will create long term, sustainable jobs including traineeships and apprenticeships,” he said.
The Regional Railway Project involves the replacement of the entire regional rail fleet of XPT, Endeavour and XPLORER trains and the construction and operation of a maintenance facility at Dubbo.
In the lead-up to Thursday’s briefing, Regional Development Australia (RDA) Orana urged entrepreneurs, businesses and tradespeople to put it in their diaries.
On Friday morning RDA Orana executive officer Megan Dixon reported that the “right people” attended the meeting where they listened to a “general overview” of the project and had access to the three tenderers.
“Each of the three tenderers had a room and there was an opportunity to go in and talk to them which was really good,” Mrs Dixon said.
She said meeting participants should have walked away with a better understanding of the project and the opportunities it presented.
“Hopefully, they will have made contact with the tenderers so that as the project progresses they will have an opportunity to be part of that supply chain,” Mrs Dixon said.
Feedback from the briefing will “help determine the on-going support provided to local businesses in relation to working with the NSW Government in the Orana region”, the Transport for NSW spokesman said.
“The successful contract is set to be announced in early 2019,” he said.
