A Shorten Labor Government will make funding available towards the Maldon-Dombartonrail link and work with the private sector to finally build the stalled project.

Federal Labor calls on the NSW Government to matchthe $50 million funding announced today dollar-for-dollar.

The completion of the Maldon-Dombartonrail project will provide a 35 kilometre rail link between the port of Port Kembla and south-west Sydney, which will expand business opportunities and create new jobs in the Illawarra.

The completion of this Rail Link which is part built would create afreight rail connection from Port Kembla to the Main South Line at Picton, providing a major boost to freight logistics in Illawarra and south-western Sydney.

The work required to complete the Rail Link would involve building a 4 kilometre tunnel one of the longest freight rail tunnels in Australia, high bridges over the Cordeaux and Nepean Rivers, a crossing beneath the Hume Highway, road overbridges, track construction, signalling systems and ancillary infrastructure.

The project would create hundreds of local jobs in the construction.

Completing the rail link will also benefit commuters on overcrowded trains on the South Coast Line linking the Illawarra to Sydney by freeing the line of freight trains, enabling more commuter passenger services.

The Maldon-Dombartonrail project has been a major priority for Labor. We provided $25.5 millionin 2011 for the planning, geotechnicaland engineering studies required.

Last year, this project suffered a further delayafter the NSW Governments 12-month Register of Interest (RoI) process ruled out two separateentities expressingan interest in building the Maldon-Dombartonline.

The NSW Government indicated following its failedRoI processthat it would seek funding commitments from the Federal Government, but there has been nothing but silence from the Turnbull Party.

Only Labor has remained committed to seeing his project delivered. A Shorten Labor Government will get this important infrastructure project back on track for the Illawarra and surrounding region.