Second stage of Parramatta light rail finally gets green light

The second stage of Parramatta’s multibillion-dollar light rail project has finally been given the go-ahead – seven years after the former Coalition government first announced the proposed route.

Both the price tag and completion date of the 10-kilometre line remain a mystery as the Minns government says it can’t put a final figure on the project until a formal tender for the latest works is awarded.

NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen has announced the second stage of the Parramatta light rail project.Credit: Kate Geraghty

The long-awaited second stage of the project will include 14 stations and run from the Parramatta CBD to Olympic Park via Camellia, Rydalmere, Ermington, Melrose Park and Wentworth Point. The government says it will allow commuters to travel from Parramatta to Olympic Park in 37 minutes.

When the project was first announced in 2017, the former government said it hoped to start construction before 2020. Despite a series of announcements – including $602 million in 2022 for a 320-metre bridge over the Parramatta River – the project had yet to receive its formal approval.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen called the latest approval a “major step forward”, saying the new light rail line would serve a population of close to 280,000 residents by 2041 and help support plans for significant housing growth in the area. The project would give suburbs such as Wentworth Point, where residents have long complained of inadequate public transport and traffic bottlenecks, the “transport they’ve been promised”, she said.

Like its predecessor, the government is yet to put a price tag on the project. Nor can it say when it is expected to open, other than having previously committed to beginning construction before the next election.

Transport for NSW has previously said the line could open in 2031, based on a start date of 2024 or 2025. The first stage of the project, which runs for 12 kilometres between Westmead and Carlingford, via the Parramatta CBD, cost about $2.4 billion.

Instead, Haylen said the procurement to deliver the $600 million bridge between Melrose Park and Wentworth Point had begun, with construction likely to begin in 2025.

Environmental assessments for the project have previously shown construction of two bridges over the Parramatta River would disrupt ferry services, while hundreds of on-street car parks were set to be removed along the light rail route.

Testing on stage one of the light rail project is under way.

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