'We were going to die here': human cost of Sydney's new metro line

Souad and Gebran Kassis had hoped to spend the rest of their years at the Westmead house they have called home for the past 47 years.

"I thought we were going to die here," Mrs Kassis, 74, said on Monday, choking back tears. "We got married here, the kids were born here and they got married in this house."

Souad and Gebran Kassis were told their home of 47 years at Westmead will be acquired for a metro train station.Credit: Sam Mooy

The retired couple's life was upended on Monday when they got a knock on their front door at 8am from transport officials to tell them their three-bedroom brick home will be acquired by the state government for a new metro train station at Westmead.

"They are going to kick us out. We don't know what to do," Mr Kassis, 75, said.

But the couple have little choice in the matter, just like the owners of 115 other properties to be acquired for train stations on the new Sydney Metro West rail line from the central city to Westmead.

The couple have regularly knocked back approaches by real estate agents over the years to buy their house, including from a developer who built a multistorey apartment block next door.

The officials who broke the news to the couple an hour before Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the precise locations for seven stations along the line did not give a clear timeframe for when their home will be acquired and bulldozed for the new station.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the locations of seven new train stations for the metro line on Monday.Credit: Sam Mooy

One of their daughters-in-law, Rosa Kassis, said the home meant more to them than money. "You can't put a price on this house. This is like the hub [of the extended family]," she said.

Small businesses in the path of the metro rail line are equally devastated they will lose what, in some cases, is a family legacy built up over decades.

Carli Jeffrey, of Urban Flower on Parramatta Road at Burwood, said she had never seen a day coming when her family would not travel to the flower market together to supply their store, which is a victim of the property acquisitions for a new station at Burwood.

"You have to work so hard to survive on Parramatta Road," she said. "To have people know us and trust us on Parramatta Road ... it takes a lot of time."

Ms Jeffrey said it was heartbreaking that she would not be able to continue the business, which passed through three generations on the site where her husband's grandfather first opened the door to customers in 1974.

Giuseppe Orlando, whose cafe Bar Rizzo at Five Dock is to be acquired for a station there, said he had received scant information about what was planned.

"This is how it's going to be, and that's it," Mr Orlando said of the approach by officials on Monday.

The owner of Five Dock cafe Bar Rizzo, Giuseppe Orlando. Credit: Louise Kennerley

"No sympathy, no nothing. The cafe has been here for nearly 15 years. You can't just put a price on relocating. This is the location – this is Bar Rizzo."

His concerns were shared by many business owners who fear they will not be compensated for the intangible value of their businesses, such as loyal customers.

Some had recently spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on renovations.

House of Vape owner Jay Karanouh said he had been forced to change his store frontage at Five Dock three times in recent years, only now to face the prospect of having to move altogether.

"I don't know what's going to happen, man. It's scary," he said.

Other businesses and residents had not been told that a station was to replace, or be located next to, their properties when the Herald spoke to them on Monday morning.

Those who had been contacted received a short information pack and a generic email, and a project manager's phone number to contact.

"I'm just doing my job," said an official handing out information packs, before declining to comment.