Experts’ plan to transform abandoned St James Station

The Cahill Expressway transformed into a green space walkway that connects the Royal Botanic Gardens with The Rocks. An underground garden living and breathing in the abandoned tunnels of a train Station. These are some ideas experts from New York hope to make happen in Sydney.

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The Cahill Expressway transformed into a green space walkway that connects the Royal Botanic Gardens with The Rocks.

An underground garden living and breathing in the abandoned ghost tunnels of St James Station.

Cities that have become so dense that more and more construction starts going underground.

These are some of the pie-in-the-sky ideas two big project experts from the Big Apple are hoping to help make a reality when they visit Sydney next week.

Robert Hammond helped convert a 2.3km disused railway in New York’s lower west side into a public walkway visited by millions every year.

Robert Hammond was one of the designers responsible for turning a rail track into a popular public walkway.

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He said the really successful cities will be those that are willing to take risks.

“Our cities in 30 years’ time will look very different and it’s more risky not to change,” Mr Hammond, co-founder and executive director of Friends of the High Line, said.

“The projects have to have a connection to the city they are in order to be successful.

“It has to have some reminder of the past, even if it is the past that you don’t think is particularly beautiful or interesting, like a highway.”

The High Line in New York, which was a rail track transformed into a park, attracts millions of visitors each year.

The Cahill Expressway could be transformed into a green space walkway that connects the Royal Botanic Gardens with The Rocks.

Mr Hammond will address a Tourism and Transport Forum event on Friday alongside Dan Barasch — who is five years away from converting an abandoned New York trolley terminal into a sprawling public space known as the Lowline.

Mr Barasch said he is keen to see how planners hope to transform the disused tunnels of St James Station, which were meant for a major interchange that would’ve connected the eastern suburbs and northern beaches.

In November 2018 the NSW Government announced its intention to develop a long-term vision for the historic Macquarie St East Precinct on the eastern fringe of the CBD.

The review will look at, among other things, ways to improve the amenity and public usage of Hyde Park Barracks, State Library, Sydney Hospital and NSW Parliament.

An underground garden could breathe life into the abandoned tunnels of St James Station. Picture: David Swift

The integration of the St James Tunnels Network will be an important part of this project.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance said: “I am excited this hidden treasure will soon be accessible to the public — whether that be as a restaurant, bar, entertainment or retail space”.

TTF chief executive Margy Osmond said: “Sydney by its very nature is going to get more and more dense”.

“We can’t sprawl too much further and I think it is the challenge for planners now to think about how they increase the density of living spaces and yet still provide really wonderful green spaces and other opportunities for people,” she said.

“When you look at the highline in New York and the Cahill Expressway, the capacity to build a green bridge between the Botanical Gardens and the art gallery with the new fabulous Sydney modern development … would be magnificent. It would help in bringing those parts of the city back together again.”

Originally published as Experts’ plan to transform abandoned St James Station