Sydney Metro Southwest set to transform Sydenham to Bankstown Line
The Sydney Metro Southwest will be a game changer as driverless trains thunder through every four minutes during peak hours, compared to a mere four an hour currently at some stations.
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Commuters are set to hop on fast trains from fully accessible stations if all stays on track for the ambitious Sydney Metro Southwest link in the next five years.
To ensure this happens, all 11 stations are being renovated to reach standards of the North West Metro as the NSW Government upgrades the T3 Bankstown Line.
A representative of Sydney Trains said there would be services every four minutes during peak or 15 per hour when they opened in 2024.
These figures compare to four trains an hour at peak station times at present, including Hurlstone Park and Canterbury.
The total cost of Sydney city and southwest Metro will be between $11.5 and $12.4 billion.
However, the Southwest Metro plans are opposed by sections of the community who say they are having to switch trains more than once to travel to the city.
Canterbury state Labor MP Sophie Cotsis and Bankstown state Labor MP Tania Mihailuk both want inquiries into the Sydenham to Bankstown Metro plans.
Canterbury Bankstown’s Labor mayor Khal Asfour said he preferred the station going underground at Bankstown to reinvigorate the town centre and unite the city.
After years of campaigning against the Metro, Councillor Asfour admitted the March state elections had proved the government had a mandate to build the new line but he now wanted the council to be involved with the planning.
“The community voted they wanted a Metro, otherwise things would have been different,” he said after the elections.
NO LONG TERM GAIN
Roydon Ng, spokesman for the Restore Inner West Line and Save T3 group, said there was no long-term gain for the Bankstown Line community.
“Sydenham to Bankstown will have 70 per cent less seats with Metro and all T3 Bankstown Line stations will lose access to the City Circle, with at least 19,000 commuters having to interchange twice every day,” he said.
According to Transport for NSW, the T3 Bankstown Line is creating a big bottleneck on the network as it merges with other railway lines close to the Sydney CBD, including the T8 Airport and South Line and the Inner West and Leppington Line.
“Moving Bankstown Line services to the new stand alone metro system removes this bottleneck, providing capacity for more trains to run on the existing network across Sydney,” a Transport for NSW representative said.
Sydney Metro received planning approval in December to upgrade the T3 Bankstown Line between Sydenham and Bankstown to metro standards.
A $26 million contract has been awarded to Metron T2M — a joint venture between Arcadis Australia Pacific and Mott MacDonald Australia — to deliver design services for the stations and the railway corridor between Marrickville and Punchbowl.
Early works to convert the T3 Bankstown Line have begun.
The T3 Bankstown Line will remain open during most of the construction but locals are bracing for chaos during the Christmas and New Year Holidays when the line will close. Hundreds of buses will replace trains when local stations are closed.
Transport for NSW said they expect that up to 30,000 customers on the T3 line will be affected by the temporary line closures each day during the Christmas closure.
FAST TRACK PROJECTS
Meanwhile Western Sydney Business Chamber executive director David Borger said he wanted important public transport projects, including Sydney Metro West and Parramatta Light Rail stage 2, to be fast-tracked.
Mr Borger said he was also keen on extending the South West Metro to Liverpool and the North-South Rail Link through the new Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek to Macarthur and the future extension of the West Metro to the Airport.
He said bringing jobs closer to the growing outer suburbs in centres like Bankstown, Liverpool, Penrith, Blacktown and Campbelltown would make a huge difference of the work and life balance of the families in the area.
“If we want to see a meaningful cut in the amount of time families from Western Sydney are spending in an increasingly slower commute to work, the NSW Government needs to continue to turbocharge its investment in public transport,” Mr Borger said.
MAIN FEATURES OF METRO
■ An airconditioned metro train every four minutes in the peak
■ Fully accessible stations. including lifts
■ Improved CCTV surveillance, platform screen doors, platforms level with train floors, minimal gaps between platforms and trains
■ New or upgraded concourses and new station entries
■ Improved station interchange facilities
■ All trains stopping at all local stations
■ Safe and efficient connections during the peak and non-peak periods between key centres along the T3 Bankstown Line
■ Reduced travel times to key employment and education precincts
■ New, direct and fast services to Martin Place, Barangaroo, North Sydney, Chatswood and Macquarie Park
■ Interchanges to other rail services at Sydenham, Central and Martin Place.
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