NSW Government announces new city stations for Sydney Metro

LOCATIONS for six brand new railway stations in Sydney have been announced. But some are so close it might be quicker to walk between them than catch the train.

Barangaroo station part of new Sydney Metro system

SIX brand new underground railway stations are to be built in Sydney’s inner suburbs and CBD, but some are so close to one another it might be quicker to walk between them than to catch the train.

NSW Premier Mike Baird said the first tunnel boring machines for stage two of the Sydney Metro would begin digging before the end of 2018, connecting the north shore with southwestern Sydney via a new link through the CBD.

Trains are due to start to run on the multi-billion new line in 2024.

But the opposition says the government has busted the budget on its new transport projects.

Stage one of the multi-billion new metro network is already under construction in the city’s northwest. The second stage will involve twin tunnels from Chatswood travelling 15 kilometres to Sydenham to connect up with the Bankstown line.

“We’re wasting no time delivering Australia’s biggest public transport project,” Mr Baird said.

“Sydney Metro will change Sydney forever — it will help boost capacity of our rail network by 100,000 people every hour, servicing our growing global city for generations to come.”

The government announced stations would be built north of the harbour at Crows Nest and Victoria Cross in North Sydney. Stops in the city will be at Barangaroo, beneath the current Martin Place station, on Pitt St and at Central.

The Martin Place station and new Park St stations will be only a few hundred metres apart. Picture: Bob Finlayson

Two of the stations are so close they could well end up being the nearest on the network. The new Pitt St station will have an entrance just north of Park St, close to Castlereagh St. A new entry point to the Martin Place station will be created a mere 650 metres, or eight minutes’ walk away — if you dawdle.

The walk could well pip the gap between St James and Museum as the shortest distance between any two Sydney stations. It makes the short hops between Milsons Point and North Sydney, Macdonaldtown and Newtown and Clyde and Granville feel like huge hikes.

Shadow transport spokesman Ryan Park told news.com.au that the government had questions to answer about it’s multi-billion projects.

“The CBD South East Light Rail has blown out by $500 million and WestConnex has jumped by $5 billion under Mike Baird without releasing the business case,” Mr Park said.

“The Premier likes to make a lot of announcements about big shiny projects without explaining where the money is coming from, whether these projects are value for taxpayer money and whether these costings are even close to accurate.”

Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the new line would be able to move more people across the harbour in the rush hour than the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour Tunnel combined.

The route of the new Sydney Metro system.

“Sydney Metro will deliver ‘turn up and go’ rail services with more than 65 kilometres of new metro rail on a stand-alone line,” he said.

However, the government has yet to decide whether to direct the new line south of the city via the University of Sydney’s Darlington campus or Waterloo. With Macquarie University already on the railway network and the University of New South Wales to be connected to the CBD via the new light rail, Sydney University is desperate to grab a station of its own. But it faces strong competition with a new station at Waterloo, likely to lead to a development boom in the once-impoverished suburb.

Meanwhile, the government has given its strongest indication yet it will extend the Sydney Metro to Liverpool in the city’s west. Original plans for the rail route excluded Liverpool.

The system will be served by new single-deck trains in contrast to the double-deckers used throughout the city.

The government has hailed single-deck trains as being quicker to disembark than double deckers, where passengers have to descend the stairs. However, critics have pointed out that double-deck trains can carry more passengers overall.