The company has expressed concerns about the limitations in capacity for existing rail infrastructure and is seeking to modify the road transport limits from its Dunmore quarry, for an extra 220 truck movements per day.
The quarry produces 1.5 million tonnes per year of aggregate, with a maximum of 320 truck movements per day (160 loads), 24 hours a day.
“There is no change planned to production. The modification seeks to remove existing restrictions relating to the method by which product is transported, being road and rail,” said a Boral spokesman.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has stated that there are “clear environmental benefits” to minimising road transport in favour of rail, in terms of air quality and noise impacts.
A Boral spokesman said its preferred mode of transport is rail. “The limitation is the capacity of Boral's freight terminals to handle the volume of quarry product being delivered by rail. Maximised production at our Peppertree Quarry (in Marulan South) means there is limited additional Boral terminal capacity in Sydney available to receive Dunmore quarry trains.
“The core issue for Boral is limited terminal capacity to unload the trains, rather than rail line capacity. As the party responsible for rail infrastructure, the state government has outlined its plans for transport through the NSW Freight and Ports Plan 2018-2023,” the spokesman said.
Boral’s Peppertree Quarry is permitted to produce up to 3.5 million tonnes per annum and is the only quarry in the state to transport 100 per cent of its product via rail.
The modification request is already well into the assessment phase of the New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment (DPE).
The Boral planning team recently responded to submissions made by the various government agencies to which DPE referred its application.
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