Why residents are worried Sydney Metro South West will make travel times worse, not better
Community anger against the Sydney Metro South West was palpable as the Sydenham to Bankstown Alliance held a protest in Campsie, where they expressed why they think the new line will make travel times worse, not better.
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Community anger against the Sydney Metro South West was palpable as the Sydenham to Bankstown Alliance held a protest in Campsie on Thursday morning.
The protest is aimed at forcing the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and her Government to halt the Metro project in the south west, and instead improve the present line.
Canterbury Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour, who has maintained his opposition against the Metro, former deputy mayors of Canterbury Karl Saleh and Barbara Coorey joined the protesters outside the Metro Community Information Centre at Campsie.
However, there was mixed views on the Express Facebook page with readers saying the Metro will be good for the city, with one saying she will be voting for Liberals to get this line built.
SOME FACEBOOK COMMENTS:
“Are we seriously protesting to keep the Bankstown line? As a daily commuter of the Bankstown line for many years, I cannot express how sad I am finding this”: Recep Ayas.
“Metro is good. Just not in the circumstances where we rip up existing heavy rail lines”: Kathryn Calman.
METRO PLANS
The Sydney Metro received planning approval on December 19 to upgrade the T3 Bankstown Line between Sydenham and Bankstown to metro standards.
According to the Government, in 2024, passengers will benefit from a new airconditioned Sydney Metro train every four minutes in the peak in each direction with lifts, level platforms and platform screen doors for safety, accessibility and increased security.
The upgrade will make all 11 stations fully accessible with lifts for the first time at Punchbowl, Wiley Park, Canterbury, Hurlstone Park and Dulwich Hill.
COMMUNITY SPEAKS
Marie Healy, the spokeswoman for the alliance and Roydon Ng from the Restore Inner West Line group, also spoke about their frustration and anger against the Metro.
What started as a silent protest, however, soon turned out to be a noisy one as Ms Coorey whipped up the crowd’s passion with her yells of “Shame on Gladys, Shame on Gladys.”
“We really don’t want the Metro in our city,” Mayor Asfour told the Express.
“We want proper investment, we deserve the same as the North Shore.
“We deserve tunnels, we don’t deserve ripping out a heavy rail line and putting in a Metro.
“I am caling on the Premier and the minister (Andrew Constance) to change their minds ion the Metro and see what happens.
“We are going to keep fighting this as hard as we can.”
There was a mix of young and old in the protest group as Ms Coorey whipped up their passion with her yells of “Shame on Gladys, Shame on Gladys.”
“We will lose our direct city circle link to Museum, St James, Circular Quay, Wynyard, Town Hall and also a direct line to Redfern,” Ms Coorey said.
“The Minister for Transport upgraded the Chatswood heavy rail line over the New Year to run trains every three minutes for heavy rail.
“The SW Metro is to run trains every four minutes so why can’t this Government upgrade the signalling (like at Chatswood) and give us trains every three minutes and keep our heavy rail line?
“Our uni students will no longer be able to get to Redfern direct.
“The premier has not thought through the fact that 21 million users per annum who use the T3 line will be placed on buses to go to the East Hills and airport lines during the conversion to a Metro.
“The conversion of the line will cause economic and social hardship never seen in these areas.”
‘CYBER ATTACKS’
Ms Coorey is also worried about the safety of passengers on the new driverless single deck trains, saying “it will be subject to cyber attacks which will render it to derailments either above ground or in the tunnels”.
Marie Healy, the spokeswoman for the alliance — which represents many community groups along and beyond this threatened urban corridor — said the NSW Government’s plan to convert the existing T3 heavy rail line to a Metro does not have the support of the community.
“Both the Inner West and Canterbury Bankstown councils, and a raft of experts have been critical of the plan,” Ms Healy said.
“Over 90 per cent submissions to Environmental Impact Statement and the Preferred Infrastructure report were opposed to the project.
“The Greens have always opposed the conversion, and Labor has committed to scrapping it in favour of a Parramatta option.
“The Metro conversion of this existing rail line would be a costly mistake.
“It will divert billions of dollars from providing new public transport options and will result in a privatised service with limited seating and reduced direct connections.
“Commuters beyond Bankstown will have to change more and travel for longer.
“There are safety concerns, that remain unresolved, especially if evacuation is needed in narrow tunnels.
“During the lengthy construction process there will be chaos with thousands of extra buses down already congested roads, and increased congestion of the East Hills rail line.
“In summary, this is a project that will benefit developers, and a private operator, and reduce the capacity to improve public transport options in Sydney.
“This project lacks the social licence to proceed.
“By this I mean that it lacks legitimacy and community support and is not in the public interest.”
IN OTHER NEWS
“The Save our Bankstown Line calls on Premier Gladys Berejiklian to keep direct trains to the City Circle for all stations on the T3 Bankstown Line,” Mr Ng said.
“Travel times to City will increase up to 17 minutes for commuters west of Bankstown if the Sydenham to Bankstown Metro is built.
“The Sydenham to Bankstown Metro Southwest forces 19,000 commuters from the western side of the Bankstown Line to catch three trains to travel to the City Circle and Inner West.”
Ms Coorey said: We are sending a clear message today to the premier that the conversion of the Sydenham to Bankstown line to a Metro at a cost of $1.5 billion is a waste of taxpayers’ monies and is not supported by the commuters.”
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