Roydon Ng (Restore Inner West Line)
We would like to thank the NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Transport and Infrastructure for the opportunity to appear at the Inquiry into the Sydney Metro West project.
The time is now for critical changes to Sydney Metro West to ensure its delivery is optimised for the benefit of all residents living and those working along the tunnelling corridor.
Noting that most of the forecasted urban growth will be between Sydney Olympic Park and Parramatta, it is important that additional Metro stations are constructed to service these growing residential, commercial, and industrial areas.
We support well designed and sustainable transit orientated development, and the overwhelming public support for Metro stations at Silverwater and Camelia requires the NSW Government to take urgent action to respond to this growing demand.
The ongoing secrecy surrounding the Sydney Metro West business case is concerning especially for a project currently forecasted at up to $25 billion dollars, hence we join calls for the NSW Government to authorise the immediate release of the full business case for public scrutiny.
The premise that Greater Parramatta and Olympic Peninsula are well serviced by a 7km gap without any stations at Silverwater and Camelia, while Westmead is designed to be a major interchange ultimately raises many unanswered questions about the effectiveness of Metro West’s current design to providing transit and uplift for Western Sydney.
It is time for the NSW Government to abandon the 20 minute Parramatta to Sydney CBD travel time target that has not been justified, and instead focus on expanding access to Metro West through additional stations that will still maintain a completive travel time with Sydney Trains on the T1 Western Line to reduce overcrowding.
Urgent action is needed to ensure that changes to the Sydney Metro West project can be implemented without significant additional cost to the taxpayer.
Evidence tendered to the Parliamentary Inquiry for Sydney Metro West also included internal Transport for NSW documents showing considerations to close the T7 Olympic Park Line and remove the restored T2 Liverpool via Regents Park trains from West of Bankstown stations after Sydney Metro West opened.
We will also continue to support efforts to retain and improve Sydney Trains Network services especially T7 Olympic Park to Lidcombe line, T1 Western Line, T2 Inner West Line: Liverpool via Regents Park, T3 Lidcombe to Bankstown line, and future considerations for north-south lines.
Video footage of Roydon Ng’s opening statement at the NSW Legislative Assembly Inquiry into Sydney Metro West is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHvbhNUjjm8
For more information about the Restore Inner West Line campaign and Sydney Metro West, please contact Roydon Ng (0426 500 330) or email roydon@restoreinnerwestline.org.au
