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| Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc. |
| P O Box K606 |
| Haymarket NSW 1240 |
| 15 December 2021 |
Action for Public Transport (NSW) ("APTNSW") is a transport advocacy group which has been active in Sydney since 1974. We promote the interests of beneficiaries of public transport - passengers and the wider community alike. This submission addresses the Environmental Impact Statement dated November 2021 for major works for that portion of the proposed Metro West from east of The Bays station to Hunter St station.
Although we are not opposed to the project, we have serious concerns. Many of these concerns relate to the peculiar way that the project is being developed: the EIS for the stations and passengers ("rail infrastructure, stations, precincts and operations") is still being prepared even though the EIS for the major civil works from The Bays westward has already been determined. We would like to see a detailed justification of Metro West having so few stations but we probably never will since major planning decisions were made without effective consultation. We point out that Metro West is being planned to have just 10 stations in about 23km of track (implying an average distance between stations of 2.5km) whereas the Paris Metro has 304 stations in 225km of track (average 740 metres) and many interchanges. [source: Wikipedia].
The present EIS omits many important matters yet it includes discussions which don't have any obvious relation to the subject civil works - e.g. extensive consideration in Technical Paper 6 (Social Impact Assessment) of the effects of COVID-19 on travel habits.
Generally, we cannot see a clear recognition that the project is building a city. The objective of the project should be to take Greater Sydney in a certain direction; only after that direction has been identified can details be determined of what's needed to move there.
Specifically, we refer to the South East Sydney Transport Strategy dated August 2020 issued as part of Future Transport 2056. Page 41 of that document describes a preferred scenario including
Metro extension to La Perouse (via Zetland, Randwick, Maroubra Junction, Maroubra and Malabar), an extension of Sydney Metro West, to provide fast and reliable transit between the Harbour CBD and the south east, meeting future demand and unlocking land with redevelopment potential, with delivery by 2041.It is essential that the development of Metro West keep this scenario in mind. In particular, the CBD station proposed for Hunter St must be designed and built to facilitate early extension to the south-east. Tracks in the station should point in a direction suitable for such an extension. It is to be hoped that the track at Westmead station is suitable for possible extension westwards if desired. However, Hunter St is likely to be the CBD terminus for more than ten years and therefore the station should have adequate facilities for turning trains back during that time.
These facilities should be present or provided from the outset. In 2005, long after Bondi Junction station opened in 1979, a scissor crossing was provided at its north-western end. This was very disruptive and doubtless cost far more to add than it would have cost if installed from the outset. Hunter St station should take note of that example.
It is also important that walking distances from the street to platforms and between platforms at interchanges (e.g. North Strathfield or Hunter St and Martin Place) be minimised. However, not enough information is in the present EIS for us to see the layour.