St Mary’s Freight Hub (St Mary’s) is a 10-hectare development that is situated in an industrial zoned area, beside a business park and in between a railway line, in Sydney’s west. The hub is being delivered via a joint venture between Pacific National (PN) and ACFS Port Logistics (ACFS).

The new freight hub will service major retail distribution centres and warehouses from industrial estates in Eastern Creek, Marsden Park, Wetherill Park and Erskine Park. Containerised freight will be moved via rail, directly from Port Botany to St Mary’s.

BG&E provided civil and structural engineering, and flooding and drainage services, including: a terminal reference design, ongoing technical support and Stage 1 Rail construction documentation. The design included the hardstand staged capacity analysis working with PN and ACFS to optimise capital expenditure and rail head operability. Rail capacity and shunt modelling with animations were also assessed to determine the required shuttle and shunt movements.

Some of the key features of BG&E’s solution are:

• an expansive intermodal terminal;
• functional design;
• shunt simulation;
• rail and road design;
• formation and civil design;
• pavement design;
• flooding analysis;
• stormwater design;
• maintenance facilities; and
• traffic engineering.

By transporting goods via rail and utilising St Mary’s, the PN and ACFS will help to reduce the number of trucks on Sydney’s roads, ease traffic congestion, improve safety and reduce emissions.