Prime Minister Julia Gillard is all set on face off confrontation with opposition leader Tony Abbot on Wednesday and she carries with her some potent ammunition in the form of a pledged $2.1 billion rail services repair projects in Western Sydney.

The Labor party said that Ms Gillard would face 200 voters in Rooty Hill RSL and unveil a plan that is set to provide for the 'missing link' in Sydney's rail system, which the federal government intends to answer by establishing a rail connection between Epping and Parramatta, with the cooperation of the NSW government.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese called the project as a significant initiative for the region since it would link two important economic hubs and possibly expedite further expansions in the area and would render Parramatta as the new CBD of Sydney.

Mr Albanese said that the project would commence in 2014 so no probable effect on the current budget would be felt as he stressed that "this is a viable project and an important step forward for Sydney that is why the two governments have come together for this."

Like us on Facebook

The federal government said that 80 percent of the project's costs would be sourced from commonwealth funds while an additional $520 million would be provided by the NSW government and construction activities are set to commence in 2014 with target completion of three years.

However, in an interview with Macquarie Radio, Mr Abbot commented that the promised Sydney rail projects would also suffer the same fate of some previous $28 billion worth of rail projects pledged by the state Labor government since 1995.

The opposition leader said that such rail projects were merely part of NSW Labor's habit of making campaign pledges "before the election and they become broken promises after the election."

Mr Abbot is poised to meet the prime minister in the town hall style forum today, with himself brandishing a planned $750 million development project for the Murray-Darling River basin in South Australia.

To contact the editor, e-mail: