The Moorebank intermodal container facility may be extended to St.Marys on the Western line.

More than $300 million will be spent transforming 220ha of defence land in Sydney’s southwest, currently home to a School of Military Engineering, into a monster industrial estate.

It promises to free Sydney city from truck traffic – but hundreds of Moorebank residents are raging against the plan.

Liverpool City Council will spend $20,000 on an advertising campaign against the plan, holding a public rally tomorrow.

“Council is committed to lobbying State and Federal Governments and working with residents to oppose the plans,” a spokeswoman said.

Finance Department project briefings said the terminal was a transport solution for Sydney’s congested streets – taking trucks off the road by putting containers on trains, reducing city traffic and business costs.

“The reduction in heavy vehicle traffic on Sydney’s roads will improve air quality, decrease greenhouse gas emissions and will also decrease motor vehicle accident rates,” it said.