Sydenham to Bankstown to be converted from existing Sydney Trains (double-deck) to Sydney Metro (single-deck trains that have 70% less seats). The current T3 Bankstown Line is direct from City Circle to Lidcombe/Liverpool via Bankstown. Metro means 9 stations west of Bankstown will lose all direct trains to City
Berala and Regents Park (Regents Park ward)
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Loss of all direct trains to City Circle
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T3 Commuters forced to interchange twice to reach City Circle (at Bankstown then Sydenham or Central)
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Increased travel times
Lidcombe (Regents Park ward)
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Up to 19,000 more commuters changing trains daily at Lidcombe (after Sydenham-Bankstown Metro)
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22% increase in commuters at Lidcombe (in peak hour during the Bankstown Line shutdown)
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Increased overcrowding on T1 Western Line and T2 Inner West and Leppington Line trains with additional commuters boarding at Lidcombe
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Increased traffic congestion and demand for parking with Berala, Regents Park and other commuters from west of Bankstown driving to Lidcombe to not reduce the number of forced train interchanges
Auburn and Granville (South Granville ward)
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Commuters will suffer from increased competition for seats on trains with increased Lidcombe commuters as these stations are on T1 and T2 lines
Chester Hill (South Granville ward)
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Like Berala and Regents Park, Chester Hill is 1 of the 9 stations west of Bankstown that will lose all direct trains to City Circle
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Commuters forced to interchange twice to reach City Circle (at Bankstown then Sydenham or Central)
91% of all submissions opposed the Sydenham to Bankstown Metro during the Department of Planning’s 2018 PIR exhibition, with the most submissions received from Berala and Regents Park residents (despite Cumberland LGA being exclude from the Project Scope)
Despite the major impact on Cumberland, the Department of Planning has NOT consulted with residents in Lidcombe, Berala, Regents Park, Chester Hill etc and has excluded the LGA from the assessment of the project
No information has been provided to the CALD communities affected by this project. Sydney Metro did NOT place its standard advertisement (small text in English only) in the Auburn Review newspaper
Lidcombe, Berala, Regents Park commuters only became aware of the impact of the Metro Southwest once the Save T3 Bankstown Line community action group (organised by Restore Inner West Line and The Battler) placed signs and collected petition signatures at local train stations
The full business case for Sydney Metro Southwest: Sydenham to Bankstown has NOT been publicly released
The more cost effective and less disruptive alternative of upgrading signalling (which allows for more trains than Metro) HASN’T been assessed
The “Bankstown Bottleneck” is a myth drummed up by Gladys Berejiklian to FAKE the case for Sydenham to Bankstown being converted into Metro, as the NSW Government’s Sydney Rail Future plan states that the “Western and North Shore lines are the key bottlenecks of the network”
The Temporary Transport Plan has been released without the promised community consultation “several years beforehand” to the T3 Bankstown Line shutdown
NSW Upper House Inquiry: Sydenham – Bankstown Conversion
Submissions close 4 October: More Information
