NSW transport minister Andrew Constance has stopped asking the Federal Government to fund the state’s Western Sydney rail projects, a day after federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten said a Labor Government would provide $6 billion to the plan.
Shorten, speaking at a NSW Labor conference on Sunday, said an elected Labor Government would provide $3 billion to the Sydney Metro West project, and $3 billion for a rail line to the future Western Sydney Airport.
Constance, who serves as transport minister in the NSW Coalition Government, has been demanding the Federal Government commit funding to the Western Sydney rail developments for some time.
The Federal Coalition has said it will take part in a 50/50 funding program for the line to the new airport, but is yet to commit funding of any kind to the Sydney Metro West project, which is still in the early design phase.
Last Thursday, Constance was quoted indicating to the Sydney Morning Herald his federal colleagues should commit money to Sydney Metro West.
“Canberra need to seriously start to look at this project to make this work,” the state transport minister was quoted as saying. “If I can get Canberra also interested in this it has the potential to be even more fantastic.”
But on Monday, a day after Shorten made his $6 billion rail commitment, Constance – stood beside his federal Coalition colleague Paul Fletcher – denied he was pressing for funds.
“I’m very happy with the way in which the national government is investing in infrastructure in this state,” Constance was quoted by the Herald.
Addressing Shorten’s commitments, Constance reportedly continued: “You’re untrustworthy when it comes to these dollars because your state counterparts when they were last in office promised all of these projects and didn’t deliver a thing.”
Sydney Metro West is the proposed third step of Sydney’s metro rail overhaul.
Following the almost-complete development of Sydney Metro Northwest, and the now-underway construction of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project, Sydney Metro West would link the CBDs of Sydney and Parramatta with a dedicated metro rail corridor.
The NSW Government has committed $3 billion to Sydney Metro West.
The current plan for the line is for it to run north of, and roughly parallel to Sydney’s existing Western Line, and to extend just beyond the Parramatta CBD to a station at Westmead.
Sydney Metro West is welcome as an addition to Sydney’s rail infrastructure, servicing a new rail corridor through the Inner West between Parramatta and the CBD. But let’s no kid ourselves that it will address congestion on the existing T1 Western Line. It won’t. The most severe crowding on the Western Line is west of Parramatta and Metro West won’t have any impact on this.
The only way to reduce congestion for Outer Western Sydney commuters is to run more services through to the CBD, but there are currently no more paths available on the Suburban Lines through to the North Shore in peak hours. The alternative, at least in the short to medium term, is to make greater use of the Main Line for express services into Sydney Terminal. This was the rationale for a Western Express service from Penrith to Sydney Terminal with longer trains (10 or 12 car), but now seemingly abandoned in favour of the metro option, misguided as it is. In the longer term, an express tunnel from Parramatta to the CBD, servicing the Outer West as part of the existing network, is eventually going to have to be considered.