New $10b rail line from city to Parramatta

Reported by Daily Telegraph:  Sydney Metro West: New underground link will ease Western Line congestion

Andrew Clennell, State political editor

A BRAND new $10 billion metro rail line from the city to Parramatta snaking through the Bays Precinct and Olympic Park will be announced by Premier Mike Baird today.

The government will use money from the $16 billion sale of Ausgrid as well as private investment to construct the project, which has been dubbed “Sydney Metro West”.

The line will be largely underground and will relieve the huge pressure on the Western rail line, which is nearing 100 per cent capacity.

The government is promising to have the line operational in the second half of the 2020s, and Mr Baird will announce that work will begin within five years.

The new link comes on top of the Rouse Hill to Chatswood metro line, costing about $8.3 billion, and the $12 billion Sydney Metro project that runs from Chatswood, under Sydney Harbour to Barangaroo and the city and out to Bankstown.

The busy Western Line is nearing 100 per cent capacity.

It is understood the government would be open to the concept of extending the Parramatta to city line east to Malabar in time, as has been suggested, but it will wait to see the results of the community consultation process.

Mr Baird and Transport Minister Andrew Constance will now give the green light to the Sydney West Metro, declaring it will “provide a direct connection between the CBDs of Parramatta and Sydney” and “serve growing communities along the route and a booming region for generations to come”.

“Sydney is experiencing an unrivalled public transport boom,” Mr Baird said.

NSW Premier Mike Baird inspects construction progress on the $8.3 billion North West Rail Link at the future Cherrybrook station. Picture: Bradley HunterA proposed West Metro train going to Parramatta. Picture: Supplied

“The addition of a metro line in Western Sydney will effectively double rail capacity between Parramatta and Sydney and transform the way we get around our city forever.

“This is the first step — we’ve identified the need for this project, we’re committing the government to delivering it and today we begin the work to bring metro rail to Western Sydney.”

Rail stations would be established at Parramatta, where the number of jobs is expected to double in the next 20 years to 100,000, and Sydney Olympic Park, where 34,000 jobs and more than 23,000 residents will be located by 2030.

How the new Metro West Link will look, stretching from the city out to Parramatta.

The line would also stop at the Bays Precinct, which is expected to become Sydney’s innovation hub with 95ha of land to be regenerated and Google to be based there.

It would terminate in the CBD, where passengers will be able to change to the other new Metro lines as well as the existing public transport network.

“We are already delivering Stages 1 and 2 of Sydney Metro — 66km of new metro rail opening from 2019 — which will change the face of the northwest and take pressure off Town Hall and Wynyard in the CBD, with a new crossing of Sydney Harbour and Metro to Bankstown,” Mr Constance said.

“Customers won’t need a timetable on this 21st century turn-up-and-go system, which will deliver new capacity and more services for generations to come.

“This new rail line will be able to move about 40,000 people an hour in each direction, delivering a massive boost to public transport.

“It will also mean faster and more frequent services will be able to be delivered on the Sydney Trains network from other major centres like Penrith and Blacktown.”

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