Keneally rolls out transport blueprint – minus Metro

The CBD Metro is dead – for now. The Keneally Government’s long-awaited transport blueprint has received a cautiously optimistic response, albeit with significant caveats regarding both the projected costs and rollout schedule.

Amongst the key announcements of the blueprint were a recommitment to the North-West Rail Link (although construction is not scheduled to begin until 2017); nearly $160 million on joining up many of the city’s high-priority cycleway links; and a $500 million expansion of the current light rail system, beginning immediately. This will feature two new lines – one running from Circular Quay to Haymarket via Barangaroo, and one from Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill.

Yet despite the headlines, Premier Kristina Keneally made it clear she still foresaw a future role for a metro system in Sydney. “What we are doing with this [transport blueprint] is maintaining a commitment to a number of projects that are outside the ten-year funding horizon,” she said. “They’re not part of our first ten-year horizon, but Sydney’s metro network is something that we see could occur in the future.”

Such an ongoing commitment means the government intends to hold on to land already acquired in the process of pressing ahead with the metro project. “We’re going to maintain the corridors that we’ve already acquired, maintain the land that we’ve already acquired,” Ms Keneally said. “This plan includes funding to do that, and it includes funding to continue planning approval and other acquisition as it becomes available, so that we can continue to build towards a metro network in the future.”

In the interim, the blueprint raises a number of questions for inner west residents. “The Keneally plan is more a glimmer of rationality than a full outbreak of sanity,” said Gavin Gatenby, co-convenor of public transport advocacy group EcoTransit Sydney. “Will the light rail inquiry, mostly paid for by local government, go ahead? If so, will it be allowed to determine important details such as stop locations and the design of the GreenWay with its walking and cycling track? The local community will, rightly, be offended if it does not.

“We’re also disturbed by the $500m price tag for the extensions. Even if it includes a generous swag of light rail vehicles to operate the system, this is way, way, above the money needed, especially considering that the 5.6-kilometre Dulwich Hill extension is along existing, electrified line that was maintained, until recently, to heavy freight standards.”

Mr Gatenby likewise cited dismay at the projected $6.7 billion pricetag and seven-year delay in starting the “shovel-ready” North-West Rail Link. “When last announced, a couple of years ago, the first nine-kilometre stage of this project was costed at $700 million, meaning the full project should have come in for well under $2 billion,” he said. “Once again, this costing is over four times international standards.”

Leichhardt Mayor Jamie Parker said the government’s reversal vindicated Council’s long-standing support for light rail. “We dragged the government kicking and screaming to light rail, and now they’re claiming it as a victory,” he said.

“The community and Council have fought for almost a year to oppose the CBD Metro. But the government’s new proposals are severely lacking in terms of being a future transport plan for Sydney. We welcome the light rail, but the government needs to integrate the ticketing and provide details on implementation, which they’ve failed to do.”

Still, for some in the area, the announcement was unabashedly good news. Having fought a long battle to prevent the compulsory acquisition of their newly-renovated business, Rozelle pharmacists Adele and Chadi Tahan were naturally delighted at the decision. “It shows that firstly the government was proactive in making a decision, and secondly, it shows they’re becoming more consultative,” Adele said. “In fact, I’m quite happy they cancelled the metro altogether – we can get on with our lives and running our business now.”

In addition to reimbursing tenders for “all reasonable costs”, Ms Keneally said the government would work with property owners, in cases where property acquisition had not yet occurred, to reimburse costs incurred.

Balmain state MP Verity Firth said she was “delighted” about the westward extension of the light rail network, and that it would be “able to be delivered quickly and affordably.”