By Mary Ward
The construction of four new metro lines in Sydney’s west could begin as early as this year, as part of plans to assist with travel across the region and to the new Western Sydney Airport.
The Coalition will spend $260 million on final business cases for the four new lines, covering 100 kilometres of track.
Premier Dominic Perrottet walks the metro track at Martin Place. Four new Sydney Metro lines are planned for western Sydney. Credit: Kate Geraghty
The lines would run from Tallawong (the terminus of the north-west metro) to St Marys, Bankstown to Glenfield via Liverpool, as well as two routes to Western Sydney Airport – which is scheduled to open in 2026 – from Westmead and Macarthur.
A business case is already under way for a metro line between Glenfield and the airport, while the line between St Marys and the airport is already under construction. Work on the four new lines, if they are approved, would commence this year.
Describing the Sydney Metro as Australia’s biggest public transport project, Premier Dominic Perrottet said the new lines would connect missing links in the network, fixing currently near-impossible travel between parts of western Sydney on public transport.
“We are future-proofing the transport needs of our city to ensure people can travel quickly and safely while also supporting thousands of jobs, additional housing and access to services across region,” he said.
Concerns were raised in October that the airport was at serious risk of opening without crucial public transport connections due to a lack of progress on promises for rapid bus links, with a funding stoush emerging between Perrottet and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese when the state leader demanded the federal government stump up 80 per cent of the $1.6 billion project.
The promised bus links were part of the yet-to-be-realised Western Sydney Cities Deal, signed by the state government and then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2018.
Earlier this month, Campbelltown Mayor George Greiss criticised the lack of public transport between parts of western Sydney and the new airport, which has more than 3000 people employed on its build.
Both the Coalition and Labor have promised a raft of spending on infrastructure in western Sydney should they win the state election in March, with the opposition pledging 600 new hospital beds and delivery of the long-awaited Rouse Hill Hospital while the government continues to announce upgrades to facilities through its $3.45 billion WestInvest fund.
Perrottet and Labor leader Chris Minns exchanged terse words about the privately operated Sydney Metro project on Thursday morning, during a leaders debate on radio station 2GB in which funding for the state’s major infrastructure projects emerged as a key election battleground.
As Minns described the government’s sale of major assets as “flogging off” the family jewels to pay off a credit card, the Premier criticised Minns’ position on privatisation.
“You’re riding on a policy at the next election to scrap the cap on 42 per cent of government expenditure. You’ve ruled out privatisation. You’ve ruled out increasing debt, and you’ve ruled out increasing taxes. How are you going to pay for the metros, the motorways, the schools and the hospitals that we continue to build across NSW?” Perrottet asked.
“If you were premier, Chris, would you have built the Metro? And, if so, how would you pay for it?”
The proposed new metro lines will be integrated with the broader Sydney Metro network, which started with the north-west line from Chatswood to Tallawong in 2019.
An extension to Sydenham will open next year, and then to Bankstown within 12 months.
The state government is also promising the Sydney Metro West Project, connecting Westmead and Parramatta to the CBD via Sydney Olympic Park and Canada Bay, by 2030.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.