Chris Minns announces new rapid buses fleet for Western Sydney if he wins the election
Dominic Perrottet has not committed to a timeline for when four new metro line extensions in Sydney’s west will open – but commuters in St Marys will have a guaranteed line by the time of first flight lands.
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Premier Dominic Perrottet has not committed to a timeline for when four new metro line extensions in Sydney’s west will open to the public.
But commuters in St Marys and surrounds have been guaranteed that a metro line to the new airport will be up and running on the day the first flight lands.
He said the commitment to the four new lines — first made in 2019 — was to plan for the future but the government would deliver three key routes by or before 2030.
Mr Perrottet and his Transport Minister David Elliott confirmed the Metro West will be up and running by 2030, the airport metro by 2026 and the southwest metro by 2024-2025.
“These are the projects that we’re building now but we’re planning for the future,” Mr Perrottet said.
“We’ll fund the business case to $260 million so we can plan the next stages of this Metro revolution.”
Mr Elliott said people will be able to catch a metro from St Marys to the new airport when it opens but others will need to catch a train to Strathfield.
“We’ve committed from St Marys to the airport so they will be able to get anywhere across that main western line through St Marys and get on a brand new metro,” he said.
“Anybody outside of that who don’t get serviced by that metro line will just have to get to Strathfield or Central.
“As we’ve committed to, they’ll also be able to get the option to get on a zero emission bus until the rest of that Metro network has been completed.”
Minns lashed by own MP after metro move
A new fleet of rapid buses would link Campbelltown, Liverpool and Penrith to Sydney’s second airport from 2026 if Labor wins the election, in a pledge which came as leader Chris Minns faced criticism from inside his own ranks for refusing to commit to two future metro lines to Badgerys Creek.
As part of the $305 million election pledge, Labor would procure 84 new locally-built buses to service three rapid bus routes and four local routes from 2026, insisting new metro lines currently under construction may not be ready in time for when the airport opens.
It came after Mr Minns put the brakes on two proposed metro lines over cost blowout concerns, in a move the government says will eventually deprive 250,000 residents of a metro station in their suburb.
The Coalition has committed to funding separate business cases for the two metro lines, one linking Bankstown to Glenfield and the other connecting Parramatta to the airport line.
Premier Dominic Perrottet yesterday accused Labor of scrapping projects to cover a “budget blackhole”.
“Labor are already cancelling projects from opposition because they don’t have an economic plan and without an economic plan, they can’t build the transport infrastructure that Western Sydney need,” he said.
Now one of Mr Minns’ own MPs has lashed out at Labor putting new metro lines on the go-slow.
A Labor MP told The Telegraph lashed the move, calling it “very shortsighted”.
“Labor can’t crow about what the Libs have done for Western Sydney, when this is what they’ve done,” they said.
Mr Minns said the new rapid buses would be in place when the airport opens, accusing the Coalition of failing to deliver on a similar plan.
“Dominic Perrottet promised the buses five years ago. They haven’t delivered. Labor will, and we’ll also create more jobs in the process by making sure the buses are built right here in NSW,” he said.
“We have a situation where a new airport will be open, thousands of jobs created but people wanting to work at the airport don’t have access to public transport services to get there.
“Labor is prioritising the transport links Western Sydney needs to get to and from work and around the city.”
While not explicitly cancelling the planned metro lines, Mr Minns said that if elected his government would finish existing projects first – like converting the existing rail line from Bankstown to Sydenham to accommodate the driverless metro.
“When you’ve got debt exploding, the deficit exploding and projects that are far from being completed, I think it makes a lot more sense to complete stage one, rather than putting all the money into stage two,” Mr Minns said.
Labor Treasury spokesman Daniel Mookhey said Labor’s “priority” would be to “get to the bottom” of how much the Bankstown to Sydenham conversion will cost before committing to future projects. Mr Mookhey eventually committed Labor to completing the project even amid cost blowouts.
But he said the Bankstown to Glenfield section depended on getting costs of existing work under control.
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