Transformation tipped for Prairiewood, train line to airport proposed
A trio of Fairfield City suburbs would benefit from a new train line. It would lead to investments in the local hospital, businesses and TAFE.
A train line running through Wetherill Park, Prairiewood and Cecil Park would best tether Fairfield City to both Parramatta and the Western Sydney Airport, a new report reveals.
The Draft Local Strategic Planning Statement, a 20-year-blueprint chartering the future growth of Fairfield City, said the train line would likely draw investment into the area’s facilities, such as Fairfield Hospital and Wetherill Park TAFE.
“It’s potentially the biggest change to this city in over a century,” Mayor Frank Carbone said. “We want a better hospital, better education and better transport. This is a pathway how we can provide all those.”
The report singled out Prairiewood as a suburb ripe for transformation, mainly because it already hosts Fairfield Hospital, Fairfield Showground, Prairiewood Leisure Center and a bus T-Way line.
The train line would be a “major catalyst for change and the establishment of the centre as a potential health, education and commercial hub,” the report said.
“There is an opportunity for expansion of the Fairfield Hospital and surrounding medical precinct,” it added.
Crucially, the train line would tend to a shortcoming in Fairfield City’s public transport system by connecting the east and west halves, helping realise the NSW Government’s vision of a western Sydney where people can travel from home to work within 30 minutes.
“There are other councils who would love to have this train line,” Cr Carbone said.
“It would have to be a train where people could go from the (Western Sydney) airport to Sydney in under an hour.
“We could get to the airport, where universities are being built and 10,000 jobs will be.”
The train stations flanking either side of Prairiewood could be Wetherill Park or Cecil Park, the report reveals.
Fairfield City Council recently settled on redeveloping Cecil Park. The semirural suburb is in the early stages of having thousands of homes built, and the prospect of a train station could result in the development of large apartments around its town centre.
Similarly, Wetherill Park – together with Smithfield – is the hottest employment suburb in Western Parkland City. A train station would fuel more work opportunities and support the role played by the local TAFE, the report said.
The Draft Local Strategic Planning Statement will inform how the local and state governments manage Fairfield City’s future growth. The plan will go on public exhibition from June 26 until August 23.
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