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State Significant Development

Determination

Berrima Rail Upgrade Project

Wingecarribee Shire

Current Status: Determination

Interact with the stages for their names

  1. SEARs
  2. Prepare EIS
  3. Exhibition
  4. Collate Submissions
  5. Response to Submissions
  6. Assessment
  7. Recommendation
  8. Determination

Supporting rail infrastructure for the Hume Coal Mine, involving development of a new rail spur and loop connected to the Berrima Branch Line. From Berrima, coal would be transported to Port Kembla for export or to domestic users.

Attachments & Resources

Request for SEARs (2)

SEARs (1)

Development Application (2)

EIS (32)

Submissions (14)

IPC Hearings (6)

Response to Submissions (23)

Additional Information (28)

Assessment (1)

Recommendation (6)

Determination (4)

Approved Documents

There are no post approval documents available

Note: Only documents approved by the Department after November 2019 will be published above. Any documents approved before this time can be viewed on the Applicant's website.

Complaints

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Enforcements

There are no enforcements for this project.

Inspections

There are no inspections for this project.

Note: Only enforcements and inspections undertaken by the Department from March 2020 will be shown above.

Submissions

Filters
Showing 101 - 120 of 314 submissions
Name Withheld
Support
Lidcombe , New South Wales
Message
The mine will not cause noise or dust or water issues
Name Withheld
Support
Dubbo , New South Wales
Message
I support the Berrima Rail Project for the following reasons:
1. The train line is there to be used.
2. The trains will be brand new, pulling covered coal wagons
3. Increased usage may result in increased likelihood of level crossing upgrades by the rail management authority
4. Using trains means no trucks transporting coal along the local roads.

Also, did you know that the cement works transports coal using trucks since Medway closed? Maybe Hume Coal could solve two issues, supply the cement works with coal and take those trucks off the local roads!

I would also like to note that all those residents which live along a rail and complain about the noise - the rail has been there for a long time before you and well ...you chose to live there. Either stop complaining and be grateful for the trains (because they are a positive sign for Australian trade) - or move away!
Resolve Coal Pty Ltd
Support
Brisbane , Queensland
Message
Hume Coal has worked incredibly hard to produce possibly the highest quality underground mine proposal presented within Australia. Exhaustive work from a technical, environmental and financial sense clearly demonstrate the opportunity to develop a low impact, high value mine producing an increasingly scarce coal type. The proponents should be congratulated on the proposal as it stands, and the community needs to embrace the opportunity for long term employment, long term state revenues, and long term community engagement. Mining has been the backbone of the Southern Highlands community for better than a century, With the stringent controls already required, and the extraordinary lengths Hume Coal management have gone to minimise the impact on the local community, our company believes that this project needs a clear mandate to proceed.
Alicia Lee
Support
Lidcombe , New South Wales
Message
The regional areas need proper jobs
Name Withheld
Support
rhodes , New South Wales
Message
POSCO is a great, reputable company with a long history with Australia.
I'm sure Hume Coal will do a great job
duncan welsh
Support
North Rockhampton , Queensland
Message
Coal is important to everyday life in the world. If we do not develop these projects we may as well go back and live in caves and light fires to keep warm.

I do agree we need to reduce carbon out put, but coal is still important mix because we can not reply 100% on solar, wind, hydro, and natural gas. A classic example is South Australia.
Name Withheld
Support
RHODES , New South Wales
Message
The mine is in perfect location:
adjacent to existing railway
close to Port for export
close to existing industry like Wollongong steel mill and cement works
can supply coal to Springvale powerplant, which is running out of coal
can supply coal to Arrium steel mill in South Australia
mining area is mostly under grazing paddocks, not buildings like houses schools - low impact
grazing paddocks used by hobby farmers, not real farmers - low impact
Name Withheld
Support
rhodes , New South Wales
Message
The mine will have no dust impact on nearby towns, no noise impact on nearby towns, and most of the impacts on water bores can be mitigated by lowering the pump.
ann lidstone
Object
Berrima , New South Wales
Message
As someone who lives approx. 3 kms from Hume Coal's train loading facilities, I must object to this proposal for the following reasons:

Potential negative health effects from coal dust and diesel emissions.
This facility will operate 24 hrs a day 7 days a week with eight train movements a day involved. According to Hume Coal's EIS ( Vol. 3A Appendix D ES 3.1) there are 75 dwellings surrounding the project area, so the effects of the noise from the loading of coal onto these trains cannot be over estimated.
Trains will use 17 level crossings.
Possibly the two most important of these 17 level crossings are at Sheepwash Road, between Bowral and Robertson, and the crossing of the Illawarra Highway itself at Robertson.
At full production, up to four trains will be loaded each day to make the journey to Port Kembla and then return (therefore eight trains a day using the Sheepwash Road and Robertson crossings).
Illawarra Highway and Sheepwash Road are the two main roads needed to get essential services into, and out of, Robertson and its surrounding environs.
The impact on essential services ie ambulances, fire brigades and the police, by having to wait for a km long coal train to use these crossings, is extreme and unacceptable.
The only hospital in the district is at Bowral . The nearest hospitals to Bowral are at Goulburn (79 kms from Bowral) and at Camden (66kms from Bowral). Distances too great for ambulances to cover in any emergency.
Therefore, the crossings at Robertson and Sheepwash Road must not be compromised by Hume Coal using this rail line to get their product from Berrima to Port Kembla.

I ask the Government to reject this project.


Jessica Tuddenham
Support
Burrawang , New South Wales
Message
The rail way is required for the coal mine which this area desperately needs.
Sam Donovan
Support
Wildes Meadow , New South Wales
Message
The coal mine requires the railway. The carriages will be covered so won't create any coal dust which is the only defense against the railway that the anti coal group has.
Chris Farrar
Support
Renwick , New South Wales
Message
I fully support the Berrima rail project.

This project is required for the Hume Coal Project to progress, which I also support.

The rail project enables the transport of coal by rail rather than road (trucks) - making it safer and better for the environment because the wagons will be covered too.
Name Withheld
Support
MOSS VALE , New South Wales
Message
I think this project will be a wonderful thing for our area, it will increase job prospects for our younger generation and keep families in the area. At the moment the demographic is retires that do not want progress. I have lived here all my life, our income was always from railway employment.
Grant Winberg
Object
MOSS VALE , New South Wales
Message
I object to the proposed Hume Development Application for the coal transport rail project
My reasons for my objection include:-
1/ Scope of EIS
The scope of the EIS is inadequate as the Hume Coal Project significantly impacts the Berrima branch line and the Unanderra to Port Kembla Branch line. Adding to the traffic from the Tahmoor mine, the future extra traffic from Hume will double the amount of coal train traffic on the Unanderra line.
2/ Level crossings
Whilst a grade separation is proposed for the Old Hume Highway, Suttor Road in Moss Vale, Sheepwash Road and Illawarra Highway crossings are completely ignored. These last two crossings experience high levels of traffic in the morning, afternoons and weekends. Many of the road users are tourists unfamiliar with the local area and rail level crossings. The Suttor Road crossing is used by both Moss Vale local residents and industrial area traffic. With the increase in heavy rail traffic these crossings pose an unacceptable risk to public safety and to rail staff.
The rail crossings on Douglas Road and Collins Road in the Moss Vale Enterprise Corridor will also be compromised by the increased traffic. The Collins road crossing is especially dangerous and the approach angle to the rail crossing close to or below the ARTC current safety standards.
The safety standards at the McCourt Road crossing also need to be improved.
3/ Pedestrian traffic
Pedestrian traffic, including school children, are seriously at risk in Moss Vale and Robertson. Robertson in particular has a number pedestrian crossings and road crossing that are inadequate and poorly fenced.
4/ Health
The rail line runs approx. 30 meters behind the 160 student Robertson Primary School. The children play and spend time on the oval area that runs beside the rail line. Coal dust and noise pose an unacceptable health risk to school children and staff. "There may be no safe threshold for fine particulate matter and the effects are linearly related to concentration."(World Health Organisation & Australian National Pollution Inventory).
5/ Delays at rail crossings
The rail route of the 4 daily coal trains from the Hume Coal mine and 4 back to the mine will involve 17 level crossings in the Southern Highlands and down the escarpment on the route to Port Kembla.
The addition of the Hume Coal trains will add an extra 24 minutes of closures at rail level crossings each and every day. This will result in daily closures at rail crossings rising from 69 minutes every day to 93 minutes or more than one and a half hours daily.
Major rail crossings to be impacted include those at Robertson and on Sheepwash Road.
The nearly 30% increase in the total time rail crossings are closed each day as a result of the Hume Coal proposal will present unacceptable impacts on emergency vehicles including fore brigades, ambulances, police and other critical community services.
All of the above is clearly negative.
Therefore, I offer the following:-
That the Department of Planning and Environment, rather than recommending to the PAC to approve the proposal, recommends to both POSCO/HUME and the NSW Government that POSCO HUME abandon the proposal and the NSW Government cancels all related licences to explore/mine in the Southern Highlands.
Name Withheld
Support
Ashfield , Queensland
Message
To enable transport of coal by rail rather than trucks, far safer and better for the environment
and for roads and motorists.
Will allow gradeseparatedaccess into the Boral works, eliminating the need for Council to
spend millions in ratepayers money on diversion of the Berrima Road (it eliminates the level
crossing).Improves utilisation of public rail assets such as railway lines, which are signi cantly
underused at present.
The Rail Project is required for the success of the Hume Coal Project and its ability to
progress.
Name Withheld
Support
Brisbane , Queensland
Message
I support it
Name Withheld
Support
HIGHFIELDS , Queensland
Message
Enables transport of coal by rail rather than
trucks, far safer and better for the environment.
* Improves the usability of the Berrima Branch Line
through the extension of the No 1 siding
* Allows grade-separated access into the Boral
works, eliminating the need for Council to spend
millions in ratepayers money on diversion of the
Berrima Road (it eliminates the level crossing).
* Improves utilisation of public rail assets such as
railway lines, which are significantly underused at
present.
* Overall, the Rail Project is required for the Hume
Coal Project to progress
Name Withheld
Support
St Lucia , Queensland
Message
The Berrima Rail project forms an integral part of the Hume Coal project
Nick Westley
Object
BUNDANOON , New South Wales
Message
I object to this project and recommend that it be rejected.

Hume Coal's EIS states that there will be 4 coal trains daily from the mine, down the escarpment to Port Kembla. I have two objections to this:

1. The extent of the air pollution in the Hunter Valley due to coal trains is well known. It is not appropriate for the agricultural environment of the Southern Highlands.
2. The route will involve 17 level crossings with their increased accident risk and unacceptable impact on emergency service vehicles.

I ask the Government to reject this project.
Ray Tolhurst
Support
BALGOWNIE , New South Wales
Message
The Berrima Rail project is an essential part of the Hume Coal project, which is also supported.

The Berrima Rail Loop is part of an existing industrial area and thee seems to be no valid reason why it should not be approved.

Pagination

Project Details

Application Number
SSD-7171
Assessment Type
State Significant Development
Development Type
Coal Mining
Local Government Areas
Wingecarribee Shire
Decision
Refused
Determination Date
Decider
IPC-N

Contact Planner

Name
Mandana Mazaheri