$3 billion high-speed underground train will go from Parramatta to the city in less than 20 minutes
HIGH-SPEED underground rail connecting the city to the west in under 20 minutes is set to become reality, with today’s state Budget reserving $3 billion in funding for the major transport project. Here are the details and when you can expect to see major transport changes.
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A HIGH-speed underground train connecting the CBD to Parramatta in under 20 minutes is set to be a reality within a decade, with today’s state Budget reserving $3 billion in funding for the major transport project.
It is the first time money has been set aside for the construction of an ambitious project that’s been talked about for more than 15 years.
The Budget will also immediately invest $28 million to finish the final business case for the project by the end of this year, on which the full funding is contingent.
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“We’re getting on with the job as quickly as possible,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
The Metro West is the single biggest public transport solution ever built for Western Sydney, and will offer a turn-up-and-go fully underground service.
“This is a super train for three million people in Western Sydney,” Transport Minister Andrew Constance (pictured right) said.
“It will absolutely smash the travel time between Parramatta and the Sydney CBD via Olympic Park to less than 20 minutes.”
Mr Constance said the government intended to expedite the build of the project.
“We are committed to real transformation for Western Sydney public transport and Sydney Metro West will actually deliver that.”
The government intends construction to start at the beginning of 2020, and the completion of the project is forecast to take around five years.
Until now, previous comments about the Metro West have suggested it was still decades away.
The Metro West will have the capacity to move 46,000 people an hour — almost double the 26,000 commuters the current train line can move in the same period.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the Metro West was a landmark project.
“The Sydney CBD and Parramatta are two great economies and reserving this funding means we are bringing forward the work, subject to an accelerated business case, to better connect these two cities,” he said.
“The government is making this project a reality.”
The route has been slated to link the Sydney CBD to Parramatta and Westmead via The Bays Precinct and Sydney Olympic Park.
Work is underway to determine other stations along the route.
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The project will also link to the two other metro lines that the government is already building.
The first stage of the Sydney Metro — the Metro North West from Rouse Hill to Chatswood — opens in the first half of next year.
Construction is already under way to extend that metro into the Sydney CBD and beyond to Bankstown, opening in 2024.
Labor leader Luke Foley says he would prioritise the Metro West if he wins government and has labelled it the “most-needed transport improvement for Sydney”.
He has abandoned a metro line between Sydenham and Bankstown in a bid to build the Metro West faster but has not promised a timetable.
Today’s 2018-19 Budget is set to deliver a record infrastructure investment of $87.2 billion over four years — nearly $15 billion more than had been projected in the half-year review.
It also comes with a budget result expected to be $3.9 billion — with surpluses averaging $1.6 billion projected in each year over the next four years.
It also projects that it will be the third year in a row that NSW has recorded negative net debt.
But it is understood that Treasurer Perrottet will be emphasising the cost-of-living measures being handed down in today’s Budget paper.
“This Budget fulfils our most fundamental moral obligation. Leaving a better state for those who come after us.”