Both the National Party and the Labor Party have assured voters that locals will benefit from jobs at the Dubbo Railway Maintenance Facility if they are elected in March.
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The new purpose-built facility will be constructed in Dubbo to service and maintain trains.
The National Party claimed last week NSW Labor was opposing plans to build the train maintenance facility in Dubbo because it would cause job losses in Sydney.
Shadow Minister for Transport Jodi McKay has rubbished those claims.
A Transport for NSW spokesperson said the NSW Government had committed to replace the ageing regional rail fleet of XPT, XPLORER and Endeavour trains and to build the fleet in Dubbo.
“The tender process is continuing and Transport for NSW expects to award a contract in early 2019,” the spokesperson said.
Nationals candidate for Dubbo electorate Dugald Saunders said it was great news for locals that the maintenance facility is coming to Dubbo.
“What it means for us is job gains, a couple of hundred jobs in the long term, there will be skills there will be training and long term employment,” he said.
The false statement that the National Party put out that Labor was going to derail this project was a straight up lie.
- Stephen Lawrence
“This rail facility means jobs for this electorate which is a win, people are talking about decentralisation and getting jobs out to rural areas and this is a prime example of how it would work.”
Shadow Minister for Transport Jodi McKay said she was concerned about job losses wherever they happen, but Labor had no intention of taking any jobs away from Dubbo.
“Labor won’t make any changes that would take away jobs or the potential for economic injection in Dubbo,” she said.
Country Labor candidate for Dubbo Stephen Lawrence said he was annoyed about the National’s assertions.
“The false statement the National Party put out that Labor was going to derail this project was a straight up lie,” he said.