NSW Labor leader Michael Daley pledges $11b for train upgrades

NSW Labor leader Michael Daley has pledged to spend $8 billion to fast-track the Western Metro and will also put aside $3 billion to improve the city’s rail network.

• Ex-military chief will run Metro ‘with precision’
• Downer’s $900m trains order from NSW govt

NSW Labor leader Michael Daley has pledged to spend $8 billion to fast-track the Western Metro and will also put aside $3 billion to improve the city’s rail network.

If elected in six weeks time he will also boost investment in regional and rural roads by $900 million and expand the roads Pinch Point Program to $1.1 billion.

This is his most significant policy announcement of the March election campaign so far, and was presented with applause to the Western Sydney Business Chamber at an event in Parramatta.

NSW Labor Leader Michael Daley. Picture: David Swift.

MORE NEWS:

Wife places police teddy on fallen officer’s casket

Drugs, booze and fireworks seized during bikie clubhouse raid

Football WAG gets key job in Clive Palmer’s party

Mr Daley said more than one million trips are taken on the Sydney rail network every day and yet the services are overcrowded and often run late.

He will reserve $8 billion to fast track the Western Metro between the Sydney CBD and Parramatta and undertake a $3 billion investment in the existing rail network.

“This investment goes to the heart of one of Labor’s core priorities, to provide people with efficient, government-run, public transport,” Mr Daley said.

Sydney Metro CEO Jon Lamonte in front of the new metro trains that will come into operation mid year. Picture: Toby Zerna

He will also expand the roads Pinch Point Program to $1.1 billion, and will also enter a memorandum of understanding with Liverpool council to provide $10 million for preliminary work on rapid transport between Western Sydney Airport and Sydney’s south west.

“Trains are running late, the system can’t cope with increased demand and the public can no longer rely on government to deliver a basic service,” Mr Daley said.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance said Mr Daley and Labor cannot be trusted on public transport.

“Today, nine years ago to the month, former Labor Finance Minister, Michael Daley, played a key role in the cancellation of the Rozelle Metro, costing NSW taxpayers well over $400 million,” Mr Constance said.

“In fact, Labor promised to deliver Metro West three times since the early 1990s, only to cancel it each time, including handing back $81 million to the Federal Government in 2010.”