Region. Work on rail project to stop

Work on a Federal Government’s $309 million Southern Sydney Freight Line project will shut down in Sydney this week, and hundreds of workers will be laid off, because of a potential cost blow-out allegedly caused by poor planning. The Australian Rail Track Corporation has confirmed that it will be ''re-evaluated with a view to determine the most cost-effective way forward'', according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese, said in February the project, to take freight trains off the Sydney passenger rail network, would create 1500 jobs and be completed by early 2010.