Why Sydney needs these two ‘missing pieces’ of the metro rail network

Sydney’s multibillion-dollar metro line must be extended to the outer suburbs within 15 years to leverage the potential of the region’s new international airport and soaring population, NSW and federal governments have been urged.

The Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue lobby group will on Friday launch a campaign for the NSW government to delay a potential extension of the $25 billion Metro West line to inner-city Zetland in favour of north-west and south-west Sydney extensions before 2040.

The call follows a secret report that canvassed options for building future rail lines to Macarthur and Tallawong after the Metro West line between Parramatta and central Sydney opens in 2032.

The dialogue’s chief executive, Adam Leto, said the extensions would fill “missing pieces” of the metro rail network, improving transport routes for “one of the most disconnected parts of Sydney”.

“The metro is currently servicing one side of Sydney – unfortunately, it’s not the side of Sydney that is growing, and growing fast,” Leto said.

A confidential report on new routes from a wide-ranging review commissioned by NSW Labor last year thrashed out various mega-rail projects, including a southern extension of the under-construction Western Sydney Airport metro line from the new city of Bradfield to Oran Park to be completed in 2047 at a cost of $5.1 billion.

Another option was to extend the metro from St Marys to Schofields by 2037 at a cost of $9.6 billion.

The review also explored an eight-kilometre extension of the Metro West line from the under-construction Hunter Street station in the CBD to Zetland by 2042 at a cost of up to $9.3 billion.

The Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue says the Zetland extension should be parked and funds redirected to fast-tracking the western lines, first constructing metro from the new city of Bradfield to Leppington, and from Bradfield South to Oran Park. A second stage would connect St Marys and Tallawong via Schofields and deliver a line between Oran Park and Macarthur via Campbelltown.

Leto said the current plan for a line between Bradfield and St Marys was “isolated, stranded and disconnected”, and extending it would connect residents to the airport and support construction of new homes.

“Parking the proposed south-eastern extension [to Zetland], having the federal government match the funding, and a small top-up of funding from the state could be the difference between these new western Sydney metro connections being delivered in the 2030s instead of the late 2040s.”

The new $11 billion metro rail line to the future Western Sydney Airport is due to be completed in late 2026.Credit: Wolter Peeter

A spokeswoman for federal infrastructure minister Catherine King said work was progressing on a business case to extend the metro to Macarthur.

“We will continue to work with the NSW government to identify, plan and fund future priorities for investment in western Sydney infrastructure,” she said.

NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the government was focused on building the metro lines to Parramatta and to Western Sydney Airport as well as converting the Sydenham to Bankstown rail line to metro.

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