The North-South Rail Corridor (NSRC) Study has been hailed as a major step forward for planning Australia’s future freight transport needs.
 
With total freight flows expected to double in most markets within the Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane corridor, the NSRC Study will inform government and industry consideration of future rail freight operations along Australia’s eastern seaboard. It will potentially result in substantially more efficient rail freight operations, delivering economic, environmental and social benefits to the broader community.
 
The NSRC Study was commissioned by the Department of Transport and Regional Services and managed by  Ernst & Young with the study team comprising Hyder Consulting and ACIL Tasman. Hyder Consulting was responsible for engineering and environmental elements of the project.
 
It is the first comprehensive and independent assessment of all of the potential Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane rail corridor options.
 
Covering an enormous geographical area, the study involved detailed discussions with all key stakeholders, analysis of the existing freight market, development of a future demand model, and route options, consideration of terminals and ports, environmental assessments, financial and economic analysis. Hyder designed, costed and evaluated over 130 upgrade projects estimated at over $25 billion and covering more than 2,600 kilometres of railway alignment .