Gaps in Sydney's railway network
There are many holes and gaps in Sydney's rail network. Some are tantalisingly small and could be remedied with benefits far greater than their costs:
- The most obvious missing link is Bondi Junction to UNSW/PoWH. It's about 5km. It was part of Neville Wran's ESR plan but was not approved. Building it would provide some very handy capacity which would allow nearby light rail to do what it does best. There are thousands of available seats per peak hour on trains between Bondi Junction and the CBD.
- Another gap is Carlingford-Epping. When light rail is built from Westmead to Carlingford, it should be extended underground via Carlingford Court shopping mall to Epping. The connection (about 4km) would link Parramatta with both the Northern Line and the North West Metro.
- Another is Tallawong-Schofields. Connecting them with metro (about 3.3km) would connect the North West Metro with the Richmond line and be a worthwhile step in building a network in the north-western suburbs.
Generally, Sydney deserves more new rail stations than are proposed for Sydney Metro.
It is extraordinary that Sydney Metro is to have only one station between Central and Sydenham and similarly only one station between Chatswood and North Sydney. Many inner areas of Sydney are badly-served by buses due to heavy traffic and are remote from rail stations yet do not feature in metro announcements:
- Neutral Bay
- Haymarket
- Woolloomooloo
- Taylor Square and Darlinghurst
- Paddington
- University of Technology and Broadway
- Ultimo
- The Bays
- Balmain
- Forest Lodge and most of Glebe
- Sydney University around Eastern Avenue/Fisher Library
- RPAH (the hospital is to build a new 996-space car park!)
- Annandale
… and slightly further out:
- Lane Cove
- Gore Hill medical, educational and media facilities
- Northbridge/Willoughby
- Cremorne
- Mosman
- Woollahra
- Bellevue Hill
- Charing Cross
- the region east of Sydenham [unless the Eastern Suburbs railway is completed at least as far as Kingsford]
- Maroubra
- Rosebery
- the region south of Sydenham
- Marrickville Metro shopping centre and Enmore
- North Marrickville
- Leichhardt
- Drummoyne
- Fivedock
- Haberfield
- Ashbury
- Croydon Park
- South Strathfield and Belfield
- Putney
- Gladesville
- most of Ryde
- Ermington
- Silverwater
… further still:
- West Pennant Hills is on the NWRL route but without a station. A station at Thompsons Corner would have halved the 6km gap between Epping and Cherrybrook stations.
Adding stations to an underground railway once it is operating is generally not practicable.
Note that opening the NWRL part of Sydney Metro in May 2019 affected services to upper Northern Line rail stations and therefore satellite districts of those stations may be even worse off than formerly depending on the time of day:
- North Beecroft
- Westleigh
- Roselea and Murray Farm Road
South:
- Erskineville and Ashmore (experiencing rapid growth due to new developments)
- St Peters
These areas are apparently to be served by the East Hills line. Residents there fear their rail services will be worse than now but in any case the East Hills line can hardly spare any trains because developments around Wolli Creek and Mascot stations will heavily load East Hills trains.
In the south-west, there is a large hole around Bankstown Airport, comprising Condell Park, Chipping Norton, Moorebank and Milperra. It houses thousands of people and many jobs yet has no trains.
