Member for the Dubbo electorate Dugald Saunders said Holcim, the first Australian-owned Climate Active certified concrete supplier, was offsetting carbon on about 9000 cubic metres of its ready-mix concrete.

"Using carbon-neutral concrete for this project is equivalent to taking more than 920 cars off the road for a year, or the total energy usage of over 700 Australian homes for all heating, cooling, cooking and lighting for a year," he said.

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The state government's $2.8 billion Regional Rail Project will replace NSW TrainLink's XPT, XPLORER and Endeavour trains with 29 new trains which will be tested, maintained and serviced at the centre.

"The NSW government is serious about reducing its environmental footprint, so to have Australian-first initiatives trialled in a regional centre like Dubbo is huge," Mr Saunders said.

"We're committed to making sure our infrastructure is sustainable, both in the design of the new bi-mode trains and the process of building the new facilities to maintain the trains.

"We hope we can roll out similar initiatives across other regional projects."

The Mindyarra Rail Maintenance Centre will also rely heavily on solar power and have a 100,000-litre rainwater and bore water tank.

Ninety per cent of its water needs will be met by captured rain, bore and recycled water.

Mr Saunders said concrete "produced locally from sands and materials sourced from businesses in the Dubbo area" was also being sourced for the "first-of-its-kind" project.

It will generate about 200 jobs in the construction phase and 50 permanent jobs when operational.

The first of the new trains are expected to be running from 2023, with the full fleet coming into service progressively.

For more information about the Regional Rail Project visit: www.transport.nsw.gov.au/projects/current-projects/regional-rail

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