Riverina Intermodal Freight Hub and Logistics officially open for business at Bomen

The multimillion-dollar hub, also known as RIFL, connects the 60-hectare Bomen industrial precinct to freight rail lines leading to Sydney and Melbourne with a 4.9km master rail siding.

The hub also contains a container transfer terminal.

NSW Minister for regional transport and roads Sam Farraway visited Wagga to declare the hub "open for business".

"We know that 12 per cent of the total agricultural output comes out of the Riverina and Murray regions and we need to make sure that we have the infrastructure built so we can harness future opportunities," he said.

"Most commodities, the food, the fibre need to get from the paddock through to port."

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The hub was developed in partnership with Wagga City Council and the state government, along with commercial partner Visy Logistics, who are already operating utilising RIFL's freight opportunities.

"We're moving roughly 1300 tonnes of product every day of the week by the trains," Visy country manager Lee Schmelich said.

"Wagga is just up the road from our Tumut paper mill, so obviously it's a key strategic location... great inland rail [access] so that was really the driver behind why we wanted to be a partner."

Along with the freight hub, the Bomen industrial area has been declared a Special Activation Precinct (SAP) designed to support businesses to begin or expand operations in Wagga.

Wagga City Council Mayor Dallas Tout said the next steps for the zone is to ensure the precinct and the hub work together.

"There's still work continuing on the SAP and the industrial blocks as well," he said.

"There will be a staged progression over the next year or so."

Councillor Tout said there was already substantial interest in the industrial precinct and the hub, saying both were a "blank sheet of paper" of opportunity.

"There's already existing businesses in the city and region waiting for this," he said.

"But also from areas outside of the city wanting to relocate, everyone has just been watching and waiting."

The hub is expected to support about 130 jobs alone, along with others expected to be created by new and expanding businesses setting up in the precinct.

Minister Farraway said the state government was working on solutions to regional housing shortages.

"Broadly, there is a housing shortage in the bush," he said. "We're working hard behind the scenes."

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