Federal Member for Gilmore Joanna Gash has started pushing for the South Coast line, which stops at Bomaderry north of the Shoalhaven River, to be extended all the way to the Victorian border.

It is not a new idea, as a rail committee in 1891 recommended extending the line from Bomaderry into Nowra, including building a new rail bridge about a kilometre downstream from the road bridge.

Then in 1901 a route for extending the rail line to Jervis Bay was surveyed.

However the plans did not eventuate, as rail line construction throughout the State ground to a halt.

However concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, and claims petrol prices will rise to around $8 a litre in coming years, have put rail back on the agenda and Mrs Gash has appealed for the South Coast line to be extended.

Mrs Gash has written to Infrastructure Australia chairman Sir Rod Eddington detailing the lack of public transport available in the region.

She said while the train line stopped at Bomaderry, “There is no public bus system in Gilmore,” and the private bus lines that operated were limited and too expensive for many people.

The lack of public transport options forced more traffic onto the Princes Highway, which Mrs Gash said was “in desperate need of improvement”.

“The Princes Highway remains an extreme infrastructure bottleneck and is an impediment to economic and social growth in the region,” Mrs Gash said.

In contrast, extending and electrifying the rail line would have a raft of benefits including encouraging people to live, work and establish roots in the region, and improving access to aged care, health services and practitioners, Mrs Gash said.

In her letter she also pointed out the region had high unemployment and a generally low socioeconomic status, but Mrs Gash said extending the train line could bring about a change in that through improved access to employment, training and education, and encouraging business development.

“For us to progress we need further rail,” Mrs Gash said this week, citing the range of environmental and economic benefits offered by rail as cars became too expensive and polluting to use.

And she revealed high-speed rail links extending all the way to the Shoalhaven had been discussed in the past.

When the Coalition was in government, talks were held with the Maglev group, Mrs Gash revealed, which had expressed interest in operating a high-speed link between Sydney and Wollongong with an offshoot line to Bomaderry.