Metro City delay puts opening dates of Parra Light Rail, Sydney Gateway in jeopardy
The eleventh-hour delay of the new Sydney Metro is set to trigger a collision course with the opening of two other major projects.
NSW
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The eleventh-hour delay of the new Sydney Metro is set to trigger a collision course with the opening of two other major projects, with the NSW Government juggling a new opening date for the $21 billion Metro alongside the looming launch of the Parramatta Light Rail and Sydney Gateway road.
Local councillors meanwhile have accused the Labor state government of a “stunt” by alleging the delay to the City Metro will push out the shutdown of the Bankstown to Sydenham heavy rail until after local government elections in September.
The Telegraph understands a date in late August is being targeted for the Parramatta Light Rail finally opening, although the government is yet to release a specific day and maintains it’ll be “mid-year”.
The new Sydney Gateway road, which links the M8 and St Peters interchange with the domestic and international airport terminals, is set to open on September 1.
No new launch date has been named for the Metro City line, which was due to open on August 4.
However, it’s understood the weekends after that would make it logistically difficult to open the new train line – with City to Surf on August 11 and the potential Parramatta Light Rail opening the weekend after that.
It comes as Canterbury-Bankstown Councillors accused the Labor government of cashing in on the Metro City delay, by using it to delay the controversial shutdown of the Bankstown to Sydenham heavy rail until after the local government elections in September.
“It’s a stunt by Labor to delay the shutdown so they can past the election,” Clr George Zakhia said.
Clr Charbel Abouraad added he believed Labor would now delay the Bankstown line shutdown – which is being undertaken to convert the heavy rail to Metro standards and would require passengers to catch buses for a year – to avoid a local swing against Labor in the council elections.
“All we can deduce is that potentially this is a delay tactic until after the council elections. I think they know people will be going after Labor in the election,” he said.
A spokesman for Transport Minister Jo Haylen said 2024 is “Sydney’s busiest year for Transport since the opening of the Harbour Bridge” and denied the Metro delay was a “political decision”.
“We will need to integrate Metro, Parramatta Light Rail and the Sydney Gateway into our wider transport system and we need to do this in a way that causes the least disruption to passengers,” he said.
“Signing off on City Metro is not a political decision. It is a decision for the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator. It is just silly to suggest that the independent regulator would somehow delay approving a transformational piece of infrastructure because local government elections are coming up.”
Premier Chris Minns on Wednesday indicated a new opening date for the Metro wouldn’t be announced until after it received a final sign-off from the regulator.
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