Park it in the East to Fast-track Stranded Metro

Leading advocacy group the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue will today call on the Federal Government to help fast-track delivery of the Western Sydney Airport Metro Extensions and link the region’s growth areas. 

Speaking ahead of today’s 2024 Boomtown! Property and Infrastructure Summit that will bring together more than 300 State, Federal and industry leaders, Dialogue CEO Adam Leto said South West Sydney rail links needed to be prioritised to connect Sydney’s booming suburbs. 

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

“The South West is one of the biggest residential areas in the state, if not the country. It is also one of the most disconnected parts of Sydney. It needs to be prioritised ahead of proposed CBD metro links. 

“We need the metro connections now to catalyse future development and provide the South West and North West with the opportunities the rest of Sydney is already enjoying.  

“The Bradfield to Macarthur via Oran Park connection is not expected to be delivered until 2047, and St Mary’s to Schofields extension by 2039, but that’s too far down the track. We are calling for that timeline to be slashed by a decade. 

“We need to be building a link that connects residents into the North West and the South West. This is where the population is growing at a faster rate than anywhere else and will continue to do so into the future. 

“As well as connecting residents to jobs, particularly in the Aerotropolis, a revised timeline has the potential to unlock the building of tens of thousands of new homes and help address the city’s housing crisis. 

“There is an opportunity for both the Southern and North-Western extensions of the Airport line to be accelerated – but the Federal Government needs to come to the party.” 

Mr Leto said funding could be allocated from less critical projects, including delaying the proposed development of an eight-kilometre extension of Metro West from Hunter Street in the CBD to Zetland. The government’s estimated cost of this extension is up to $9.3 billion. 

By re-allocating the cost of the proposed South-Eastern extensions of the Metro West to Zetland and with this funding matched by the Federal Government under the existing funding arrangement for Sydney Metro-WSA, the Dialogue says that the public transport needs of Western Sydney’s residents can be addressed now. 

“Parking the proposed south-eastern extension, 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 delivered in the 2030s, instead of the late 2040s,” Mr Leto added. 

The proposed fast-tracked connections are: 

1) A South West connection that links Bradfield to Leppington (via Bradfield South) and from Bradfield South onto Oran Park and then to Campbelltown  

2) A northern extension from St Marys to Tallawong via Schofields  

• Bradfield to Bradfield South – $2.3 billion 

• Bradfield South to Oran Park – $5.1 billion 

• Leppington to Bradfield South (heavy rail) – $4.6 billion  

• St Marys to Schofields – $9.6 billion 

The Dialogue’s urgency was backed by the findings of a recent Parliamentary Committee enquiry on the critical transport infrastructure supporting the Western Sydney International Airport and Western Sydney Aerotropolis, which found Western Sydney needs improved public transport services to the new 24-hour Western Sydney Airport, which opens to the world in 2026. 

“Western Sydney needs improved public transport services to the airport. Without significant investment in strong local public transport, the airport and Aerotropolis will place further strain on road networks in the region,” the report released last week found. 

Mr Leto added: “Nearly 50 years ago Gough Whitlam established the Macarthur Development Board as a way to provide the city’s growth areas with the infrastructure and investment they need – we call on the Federal Government to demonstrate this same type of ambition and for the State Government to prioritise the South West today.”