Outer Sydney Orbital: M9 to be built next to airport Metro, freight line
The controversial Outer Sydney Orbital motorway will be built next to the North-South Airport Metro cutting through two major Western Sydney towns. SEE IF YOUR SUBURB WILL BE IN THE HEADLIGHTS HERE.
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The Outer Sydney Orbital M9 motorway, north-south airport metro line and the Western Sydney freight line will each be built within the same transport “supercorridor” to be constructed between the Western Sydney Aerotropolis and St Marys.
A NSW Government report released this week confirmed plans to construct the three major infrastructure projects alongside one another, sharing both construction costs and land use.
The “supercorridor” concept is inspired by similar projects in the United States where rail lines and motorways are built closely together in order to minimise costs, as well as mitigate the effects of noise and pollution on residents.
The report confirmed the route of the Outer Sydney Orbital’s north-south motorway corridor. It will stretch from Richmond Rd, Marsden Park in the north to the Hume Motorway near Douglas Park in the south.
The Western Sydney freight line will be constructed alongside the Outer Sydney Orbital for more than 8kms, while the Metro will be built alongside the motorway, to be known as the M9, for a 3km stretch between Orchard Hills and Luddenham.
A Transport for NSW spokesman said the integration of the airport metro line and Western Sydney freight line corridors were part of a “long term planning strategy” of the M9 Outer Western Sydney Corridor.
“The corridor will cater for a future road with a dedicated freight rail line through the centre for the most part,” the spokesman said. “The proposed line will provide connectivity from the main Western Line near St Marys.”
University of Sydney School of Civil Engineering Transport Professor, David Levinson, said negative impacts on neighbouring properties would be reduced by using the same corridor for multiple transport options.
“The noise from the train spills over to the highway, and is farther from homes or workplaces, and vice-versa,” he told NewsLocal.
“Some tailpipe pollution from cars on the highway is dispersed over the railroad tracks rather than where people live and work.
“Another advantage is that it might use less land overall, as the buffering between the infrastructure and buildings can be shared, perhaps lowering land acquisition costs.”
However, Prof Levinson said the proximity could result in reliability issues.
“An event on one facility could impact or close the adjacent facilities, which would not happen if they were separated,” he said. “On the other hand, the multimodal nature of the corridor provides resilience, if the rail needs to be serviced, express buses could run down the adjacent highway and travellers wouldn’t miss a beat.”
The transport expert said “supercorridors” are becoming increasingly popular across the United States with “urban passenger rail corridors built in the median of highways”.
“It limits opportunities for adjacent transit-oriented development, since people prefer not to live adjacent to freeways,” he said. “If they are built simultaneously and adjacent it should make construction easier and less expensive.”
Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue executive director Adam Leto said it wasn’t uncommon for roads and rail to “sit within one corridor”.
“Transport for NSW has consulted quite heavily on these projects and from the outset, both the freight and orbital connections, were considered as being part of the same corridor, so there shouldn’t be too many surprises,” he said.
“While the significance of the north-south metro line connecting St Marys to the Airport can’t be overstated, the Western Sydney Freight Line is also important, in not only freeing up the existing Western Line, but also helping grow our industrial sites and manufacturing capacity.”
Campbelltown state Labor MP Greg Warren questioned the lack of freight and heavy rail modes south of the Airport.
“Heavy rail needs to be connected from the South West Rail Link through to Western Sydney Airport,” he said. “The whole airport concept was pivoted to freight but southwest Sydney won’t be able to transport their produce to the Aerotropolis, and deliver it onwards to the world, because of the lack of freight and heavy rail transport links provided through southwest Sydney.
“Other airports around the world have these kinds of connections, why wouldn’t we connect Western Sydney Airport to Kingsford Smith via the south west Rail Line?”
SUBURBS TO BE IMPACTED BY THE DEVELOPMENT SOUTH TO NORTH
Luddenham - Outer Sydney Orbital, Western Freight Line, North-South Airport Metro
Kemps Creek/Erskine Park - Western Freight Line, North-South Rail Link
Orchard Hills - Outer Sydney Orbital, Western Freight Line, North-South Airport Metro
Claremont Meadows/St Marys - Outer Sydney Orbital, North-South Rail Link