RAIL - Back On Track Forum

Sydney Morning Herald --> Up to a dozen metro stations possible between CBD and Parramatta

QuoteUp to 12 rail stations may be built between Sydney's inner city and Parramatta and Westmead under emerging plans for a Metro West train line.

Fairfax Media understands the Metro West line is being planned to use extra tracks and overtaking lines to combine both express trains between Parramatta and the central city, as well as trains stopping at multiple new stations through Sydney's west and inner west.

Under Mike Baird's timetable, the Metro West line was to be built next decade, and be "operational in the second half of the 2020s". Photo: Fiona Morris

The government has committed only to building stations for the line at the Bays Precinct around Rozelle and Olympic Park.

But a total of eight to 12 stations are likely to be included on the line when more detailed plans for Metro West, one of the last major commitments by former premier Mike Baird, emerge later this year.

It is unclear where those stations would be located. However, previous plans for a metro line in the region have included proposed stops at Leichhardt, Five Dock and Strathfield.

A private sector proposal for a metro line along the same corridor, put to the government last year, included stops and significant housing development at Five Dock and Canada Bay.

Under Mr Baird's timetable, the Metro West line was to be built next decade, and be "operational in the second half of the 2020s".

But business groups are increasingly pushing to accelerate work on the project, partly in recognition of the proposed intensification of development around Parramatta and Olympic Park.

The Greater Sydney Commission has nominated the so-called GPOP region – Greater Parramatta to the Olympic Peninsula – as Sydney's "true centre" and earmarked as a focus of planning.

A report commissioned by the Sydney Olympic Park Business Association, released on Tuesday, compares the infrastructure and amenity in the 4000 hectares in the GPOP area with an equivalent 4000 hectares in "east Sydney", an area stretching from the inner west to Bondi Junction.

Based on the government's population forecasts, the GPOP area is expected to be home to about 280,000 people in 2041, about the same as east Sydney now.

But the report highlights the relative lack of amenity and jobs in the GPOP area compared with Sydney's east. The report finds, for instance, that about 60 per cent of east Sydney residents catch public transport or walk to work, compared with 35 per cent of those who live in the GPOP area.

The report by SGS Economics & Planning also argues there needs to be a sharp increase in health and education facilities around the GPOP area to match facilities in the city's east. For instance, it says the number of schools in the region needs to double from 24 to at least 57 by 2041.

The western Sydney director of the Sydney Business Chamber David Borger says the Metro West project is needed as an equity measure.

"It's fine to have an ambition for GPOP and to talk about it in planning documents, but there's still a huge chasm between the provision of infrastructure services and all the things that are required," Mr Borger said.

"If we had the western metro, we would be able to achieve our aspirations for GPOP much quicker.

"If it is finished by the middle of next decade, that would be a good ambition to have."

Transport Minister Andrew Constance has argued the Metro West project is needed to take pressure off Sydney's already overstretched heavy rail line.

"By 2031, with the T1 Western Line, you quite literally won't be able to get people on trains in the morning peak," Mr Constance has said.

It is understood the government hopes to be able to combine both express trains between Parramatta and the city and all-stops services by using passing loops and extra tracks.

This is the method used on Hong Kong's airport train line to fulfil both objectives, although that line is also struggling with capacity.

The line is likely to be planned to extend eventually from Sydney's CBD to the city's south-east suburbs.

Alison Holloway, principal and partner at SGS Economics, says transport accessibility is critical to the government's ambitions for the GPOP area.

"We are seeing now in Green Square what the implications are of planning for population growth without the transport to support it," Ms Holloway said.

"We've got an opportunity here to align the land use planning with the transport and other infrastructure planning."

Hey OzBob, great forum you have its really informative all Queenslands rail situation & my regular go-to to find info on the cross-river rail project.

I just wanted to ask if you if you know where I can find where these metro stations are located. I had a look on the web, for example this site https://www.buildsydney.com/sydney-metro-west-central-station-parramatta/ only shows stations at parramatta, olympic park, the bays precinct & the sydney CBD... would you know where I could get the info on further stations or maybe a link to where they would get posted if they do get released?

I highly appreciate you keeping this community alive, kind regards.

Quote from: ozbob on May 30, 2017, 05:52:44 AM
Sydney Morning Herald --> Up to a dozen metro stations possible between CBD and Parramatta

QuoteUp to 12 rail stations may be built between Sydney's inner city and Parramatta and Westmead under emerging plans for a Metro West train line.

Fairfax Media understands the Metro West line is being planned to use extra tracks and overtaking lines to combine both express trains between Parramatta and the central city, as well as trains stopping at multiple new stations through Sydney's west and inner west.

Under Mike Baird's timetable, the Metro West line was to be built next decade, and be "operational in the second half of the 2020s". Photo: Fiona Morris

The government has committed only to building stations for the line at the Bays Precinct around Rozelle and Olympic Park.

But a total of eight to 12 stations are likely to be included on the line when more detailed plans for Metro West, one of the last major commitments by former premier Mike Baird, emerge later this year.

It is unclear where those stations would be located. However, previous plans for a metro line in the region have included proposed stops at Leichhardt, Five Dock and Strathfield.

A private sector proposal for a metro line along the same corridor, put to the government last year, included stops and significant housing development at Five Dock and Canada Bay.

Under Mr Baird's timetable, the Metro West line was to be built next decade, and be "operational in the second half of the 2020s".

But business groups are increasingly pushing to accelerate work on the project, partly in recognition of the proposed intensification of development around Parramatta and Olympic Park.

The Greater Sydney Commission has nominated the so-called GPOP region – Greater Parramatta to the Olympic Peninsula – as Sydney's "true centre" and earmarked as a focus of planning.

A report commissioned by the Sydney Olympic Park Business Association, released on Tuesday, compares the infrastructure and amenity in the 4000 hectares in the GPOP area with an equivalent 4000 hectares in "east Sydney", an area stretching from the inner west to Bondi Junction.

Based on the government's population forecasts, the GPOP area is expected to be home to about 280,000 people in 2041, about the same as east Sydney now.

But the report highlights the relative lack of amenity and jobs in the GPOP area compared with Sydney's east. The report finds, for instance, that about 60 per cent of east Sydney residents catch public transport or walk to work, compared with 35 per cent of those who live in the GPOP area.

The report by SGS Economics & Planning also argues there needs to be a sharp increase in health and education facilities around the GPOP area to match facilities in the city's east. For instance, it says the number of schools in the region needs to double from 24 to at least 57 by 2041.

The western Sydney director of the Sydney Business Chamber David Borger says the Metro West project is needed as an equity measure.

"It's fine to have an ambition for GPOP and to talk about it in planning documents, but there's still a huge chasm between the provision of infrastructure services and all the things that are required," Mr Borger said.

"If we had the western metro, we would be able to achieve our aspirations for GPOP much quicker.

"If it is finished by the middle of next decade, that would be a good ambition to have."

Transport Minister Andrew Constance has argued the Metro West project is needed to take pressure off Sydney's already overstretched heavy rail line.

"By 2031, with the T1 Western Line, you quite literally won't be able to get people on trains in the morning peak," Mr Constance has said.

It is understood the government hopes to be able to combine both express trains between Parramatta and the city and all-stops services by using passing loops and extra tracks.

This is the method used on Hong Kong's airport train line to fulfil both objectives, although that line is also struggling with capacity.

The line is likely to be planned to extend eventually from Sydney's CBD to the city's south-east suburbs.

Alison Holloway, principal and partner at SGS Economics, says transport accessibility is critical to the government's ambitions for the GPOP area.

"We are seeing now in Green Square what the implications are of planning for population growth without the transport to support it," Ms Holloway said.

"We've got an opportunity here to align the land use planning with the transport and other infrastructure planning."

Welcome Mikey623!

Thanks for the comments.   I will try to have a look around to see what we can dig up.  Someone may know and post in time.

My understanding is that this is largely developer led at the moment.  TfNSW has its hands well and truly full with the other projects in various stages of procurement, including the constituent projects forming "Line 1" of Sydney Metro all the way from the north-west to (potentially) Liverpool.

There is a bit of interest in the new western corridor which is also being driven to an extent by what is happening with Badgerys Creek.

Sydney Morning Herald --> Sydney's new metro line to Parramatta kicks off clamour for stations

QuoteTransport Minister Andrew Constance has confirmed the government is considering up to 12 stations for a new metro train line from central Sydney to Parramatta, as well as passing loops to ensure express trains are not hindered by all-stops services.

Councils such as Burwood are clamouring for stations on the Sydney Metro West line to be built within their boundaries, while large property owners are eagerly awaiting the final route design because of the expected uplift in values it will bring.

Out with the old and in with the new? Not for every Strathfield Station commuter.

After a report by Fairfax Media this week, Mr Constance said the government was open to considering up to 12 stations and would seek input from the private sector about their design and construction and "how you build in and around stations".

"We want to see what we can tease out of industry over the next 18 months or so," he said.

Mr Constance said the new metro line would be a "game-changer for everyone" from the Blue Mountains to the inner city because of the boost to rail capacity it would deliver along the western rail corridor.

So far, the government has committed to stations at Parramatta, Olympic Park, the Bays Precinct at Rozelle and the central city. However it has yet to reveal the exact route and cost of the rail line, along which driverless, single-deck trains will run.

The number of stations will affect the travel times of trains because of the time taken to load and unload passengers at each stop.

Mr Constance said the private sector would be asked to look at Hong Kong's design, where passing loops around stations allowed express and airport trains to run faster.

Transport insiders estimate the cost of the project to total at least $10 billion, which the government plans to fund partly from the $16 billion sale of electricity operator Ausgrid last year and so-called value capture.

The latter typically involves placing levies on new homes and other buildings close to stations.

Mr Constance said on Wednesday "we can't kid ourselves" that value capture could be used to fully fund transport infrastructure such as a metro line. "[This] is why it's important for this project that we look very carefully at how we'll build it," he said.

Apart from lobbying by councils, Sydney University has been pressing for a station on the new metro line to be built at its Camperdown campus in the inner west.

While the government is still some time away from revealing the exact route, much of it will run through tunnels and follow a similar scheme promised by the former Morris Iemma Labor government in 2007 and then abandoned.

Under the Berejiklian government's timetable, the new line will be built next decade and be operational in the second half of the 2020s.

The new line will link to the $20 billion metro railway under construction, the first stage of which from Sydney's north-west to Chatswood is due for completion in 2019.

The second stage of this line will continue on to the central business district, Sydenham and on the existing Bankstown line, and should open in 2023.

Meanwhile, Mr Constance took another swipe at the union opposed to his plans to privatise bus services in Sydney's inner west, and warned that the government was open to one day allowing other regions operated by State Transit to be run by private companies.

Two weeks ago the government announced plans to put out to private tender bus region six – covering suburbs from Kensington in the city's south-east to Strathfield and Olympic Park in the west – citing poor performance.

The decision prompted about 1200 bus drivers – members of the Rail Tram and Bus Union – to strike for a day.

Insisting he would not back down, Mr Constance said the five-year contract period for the other regions in Sydney covering the northern and eastern suburbs run by State Transit did not preclude the government from putting them out to private tender earlier.

"If cabinet resolves to make a decision ... that's what we will do," he said. "I wouldn't rule it out into the future in terms of franchising those other regions."

Driverless, single-deck trains will run along the new line to Parramatta. Photo: Supplied

Labor commits $8 billion to fast-track Sydney Metro West




Smh--------------->https://amp.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/labor-commits-8-billion-to-fast-track-sydney-metro-west-20190211-p50wyi.html

QuoteLabor commits $8 billion to fast-track Sydney Metro West

By Lisa Visentin

Updated11 February 2019 — 4:38pmfirst published at2:26pm

Labor leader Michael Daley has committed to spending $8 billion to "fast-track" the Sydney Metro West project between Parramatta and the CBD, in an election pitch designed to resonate with voters in vulnerable seats in Sydney's west.

Mr Daley said the funding injection meant Labor would deliver the project "more quickly" than the Berejiklian government, but would not say how this would be achieved or how much earlier the project would be completed.

Instead, he said a Labor government would "at least match" the Coalition government's promise to have the line open by the late 2020s.

^^Wont be long and we'll see a fully automated Train network in the Sydney basin from the mid 2020s. Thanks to the new Driverless Metro and Signal upgrades that will allow new Waratah trains to drive themselves with minimal driver interaction.  I wonder if the aim is to have Driverless Metro with regular Driver only Operation for Waratah trains? Or will they be driverless as well!?

The Waratahs are not going to be driverless

Quote from: SurfRail on February 11, 2019, 17:15:59 PM
The Waratahs are not going to be driverless

Most likely Driver Only. The media statement last week about trains able to drive themselves after the digital signal upgrade was pretty clear and decisive. Like I stated is it the intentional aim to go down that path?
No one really knows and the last thing the Government will be enlighting the general public prior to an election.

I think the likely outcome in the early 2020s will be a mixture of Driverless Metro and Driver Only Operations for trains.

Driverless Metro standard
Central to NW corridor
Central to Western Corridor via Airport
Kogarah to East Suburbs via Bondi Junction

Driver Only
Newcastle Line as already stated by the NSW Government
Blue Mountains line? After upgrades
Woollongong Line?  After upgrades.

Other suburban corridors (Driver Only after upgrades)

^^New station upgrades along the new line

Is the overhead power supply the same as the wider Sydney Trains network? 1500V DC? Or are they going with something more modern?

Quote from: #Metro on October 28, 2021, 16:05:45 PM

Is the overhead power supply the same as the wider Sydney Trains network? 1500V DC? Or are they going with something more modern?

Apparently the SW Sydney sections to the new airport will be 25KV AC. The units might be dual voltage? Other sections to Bankstown and to Tallawong are 1500 V DC.

The plan is the new lines will be 25kV.

1.5kV will only ever extend from Tallawong to Schofields and further west of Bankstown if it gets extended towards Liverpool.

Schofields to St Marys and further south will be built with medium capacity trains (3-4 car) like some of the newer Singapore lines, and won't be interconnected with the existing service.

Rail Express --> Business case to connect Glenfield to Western Sydney Aerotropolis

QuoteWork will start immediately on a business case to extend the Sydney Metro–Western Sydney Airport Line from the Western Sydney Aerotropolis to Glenfield, via Leppington.


The extension will provide an additional transport option for one of Sydney's fastest-growing regions and connect the area to the new Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport.

The business case is the first step in bringing metro services to more communities in Greater Western Sydney. It will provide the design, economic assessment, and cost estimation to inform an investment decision for the construction of the extension.

As part of the Future Transport Strategy 2056, a metro line between the Western Sydney Aerotropolis and Leppington was identified as an initiative for investigation. In June 2020, Transport for NSW protected transport corridors in the Western Parkland City to enable this connection.

The extension will continue the 23-kilometre Western Airport Line linking St Marys to the Aerotropolis. Work on the first stage has commenced, with tunnelling to start by 2023.

The Final Business Case is expected to be completed in 2024 and its contents will determine how the extension will proceed. ...

Wow! Very impressed that has progressed so quickly. Will be fantastic for the region to have Leppington integrated like that. Leppington station is an amazing piece of infrastructure thats basically stranded in what is currently a paddock. Development is slowly going in around it, and having this western connection I expect will drive that forward. Amazing what they can do in NSW.

Meanwhile in Queensland...

Despite the wording it seems open to question whether the Metro service would only be to Leppington.

Glenfield would be better from an interchange perspective, but you might need to add another 2 platforms, and you would need to find stabling for something like 20 x 8 car trains elsewhere.  (The Sydney Trains task could of course end up being less than current because the branch is gone and due to different configuration of services on the Main South.)

Possible arrangement:
- Existing T8 services from Macarthur run as present via East Hills
- T2 services withdrawn south of Liverpool.  T2 would eventually be all stations City to Lidcombe for capacity reasons, then split into 2 and a half branches - all to Parramatta, all to Liverpool via Regents Park, and some shuttles from Lidcombe to Bankstown.  (Some of the long term concept plans suggest the Parramatta T2 branch will eventually run all to Richmond and T5 north of Merrylands would be redirected onto a new alignment, but who knows.)
- T5 services run full time from Schofields to Macarthur.  T5 would be the only service stopping at Casula, the stations between Cabramatta and Granville / Parramatta, and possibly some of the stations between Parramatta and Blacktown.  People will of course cry foul about this as some stations will no longer have a single seat trip to the CBD, but you can actually end up better off over all (eg from Casula it is probably already faster to get to the city via T8 at Glenfield, and would be faster still via an extension of Metro from Bankstown to Liverpool).

You could maybe get away with only 2 platforms for all T5 and T8 services.  They would both stop all stations Macarthur to Glenfield, then would have a conflict free split and merge north of Glenfield.  It would throttle capacity but would have the advantage of Glenfield working like Chatswood with Metro in the middle and ST on the outer.

Sydney Metro West

Submissions Report
Rail infrastructure, stations, precincts and operations

https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=EXH-28088109%2120220815T060726.033%20GMT

345 pages PDF

Daily Telegraph --> New NSW ferries see problems soar as questions raised over Metro's future $

Quote... It comes as internal government briefings revealed the cost of the Metro West, which is slated to connect the Sydney CBD and Parramatta by 2030, would be $25 billion, raising concerns over the project's future.

A Labor spokesman hinted the project could be delayed, saying "Sydney Metro West needs to be delivered in a cost-effective way. Taxpayers should have confidence they are getting the best value for money:

"We are concerned that the former government did not do enough to ensure value for taxpayers," they said. ...

Projects have many benefits but it's hard to justify truly massive costs. $25 billion for a greenfield metro? What's going on?

To break even that project needs to generate $25 billion in benefits. It's hard to see how it would do that.

WA projects seem to come in much cheaper. The Ellenbrook line is coming in at $1.1 billion for 21 km.

That's a cost of $52 million/km or about at least half what Eastern seaboard states manage to do.

Quote from: #Metro on April 11, 2023, 01:34:43 AMProjects have many benefits but it's hard to justify truly massive costs. $25 billion for a greenfield metro? What's going on?

To break even that project needs to generate $25 billion in benefits. It's hard to see how it would do that.

WA projects seem to come in much cheaper. The Ellenbrook line is coming in at $1.1 billion for 21 km.

That's a cost of $52 million/km or about at least half what Eastern seaboard states manage to do.

Yes, how surprising that a railway line built largely in the median of a motorway is cheaper than one that tunnels under Sydney Harbour. 

Quote from: #Metro on April 11, 2023, 01:34:43 AMProjects have many benefits but it's hard to justify truly massive costs. $25 billion for a greenfield metro? What's going on?

To break even that project needs to generate $25 billion in benefits. It's hard to see how it would do that.

WA projects seem to come in much cheaper. The Ellenbrook line is coming in at $1.1 billion for 21 km.

That's a cost of $52 million/km or about at least half what Eastern seaboard states manage to do.

Yeah, agree with achiruel here. Sydney Metro West is 100% tunneled, all with underground stations, including two new underground stations in Sydney CBD. Meanwhile, Morley Ellenbrook line runs entirely at grade, in a protected, already state owned corridor, and along greenfield sites. Maybe a couple of small flyovers here and there.

OBVIOUSLY Sydney Metro West is gonna be more expensive???

Perth Airport line is underground. 8.5 km for 217 million/km.

Sydney Metro west is coming in at ~ 1 billion/km. At Perth costs you would expect it at $5.2 billion. Even if you double Perth's costs for the tunneled Airport line it's $10.4 billion... very far from Sydney Metro west's $25 billion.

The original cost was $12.4 billion. Something has gone very wrong.

NSW Government is essentially getting one Metro for the price of two. 

Very interesting these projects, inland rail etc always seem to cost double what they are estimated at.

https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/major-work-kicks-off-at-new-sydney-olympic-park-metro-station

I'm guessing Sydney costs more because of the land costs and because the stations are brownfield.
Though Sydney does gold plate a bit too imo.

Eg perths underground line doesn't have any expensive CBD stations, eg see Redcliffe, heaps of vacant land:
You cannot view this attachment.

Quote from: ozbob on April 11, 2023, 00:20:34 AMDaily Telegraph --> New NSW ferries see problems soar as questions raised over Metro's future $

Quote... It comes as internal government briefings revealed the cost of the Metro West, which is slated to connect the Sydney CBD and Parramatta by 2030, would be $25 billion, raising concerns over the project's future.

A Labor spokesman hinted the project could be delayed, saying "Sydney Metro West needs to be delivered in a cost-effective way. Taxpayers should have confidence they are getting the best value for money:

"We are concerned that the former government did not do enough to ensure value for taxpayers," they said. ...

"But all freeway projects despite known negative outcomes (aka no benefits) are all fine and dandy!!  We are going to build them faster!!"

Where have we seen this before!,

Sydney Morning Herald --> Revealed: The true cost of the Metro West line $

QuoteSydney's Metro West mega rail project connecting the CBD to Parramatta will cost more than $25 billion, the new state government has revealed, after the price tag was kept secret by the former Coalition government.

Internal briefings given to new Transport Minister Jo Haylen have underscored the true cost of the 24-kilometre line, with the Labor government warning the project is one of a number of significant transport and infrastructure challenges inherited from its predecessors. ...

Given how common it is to have a project cost 2x more than it was quoted for, I think changes to the methodology are in order.

I don't have all the answers, but some ideas.

- When doing the business case, in addition to the BCR, there should also be one for a "cost blowout" case.

- BCRs etc should not be reported as single numbers but as numbers with an upper and lower uncertainty as well.

- Design the project so that early termination is possible. This won't be possible for all projects, but still worth considering.

So instead of building to Parramatta, they might build to Olympic Park only and defer indefinitely the next stage.

This could be a good option if cost factors are temporary as they are with labour shortages, high inflation etc.

- Rescaling. Similar to early termination. If a project exceeds its budget by a pre-set level an embedded option in the contract can be activated to build a truncated version.

- Risk. A whole section of the business case could be dedicated to that, including simulation with past scenarios from other projects.

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1646523050551304192

" ... Premier Chris Minns has flagged a major overhaul of the Metro West line between Sydney's CBD and Parramatta, saying his government will consider building more stations along the route despite the cost of the project already hitting $25 billion.

Announcing a wide-ranging review into Sydney's metro rail projects, Minns ruled out cancelling the troubled conversion of a stretch of the existing Bankstown line, which is part of the $20 billion City and Southwest project, but said its completion is likely to be "beyond 2025". ... "

Oh great, more expensive, slower and fewer passengers 

Camellia? There is not a single house in Camellia! It had an asbestos plant and an oil refinery.

The place is an industrial wasteland, and likely contaminated too. $$$

Why not make it VLSR while he's at it too...?

I don't think it's the end of the world, since they probably can't afford too many extra stations anyway.

Worth pointing out that the Mandurah line is a fast line. It's already had one ifill station that added with a second opening soon.
Its still fundamentally a fast line despite that.

On MetroWest, The main issue is that there is a massive 7km gap between Sydney Olympic Park and Parramatta without stations, which I think is a bit unreasonable considering how urbanised Sydney is.

Likewise in the inner west, which is quite high density already, there's another big gap between stations and they didn't provide interchange with the light rail even though the line passes right near it.

Yeah, as Gazza said, the current gaps between stations on this planned line are huge.

I don't think adding in more stations is a problem. It's a "Metro". If you want to get all particular about naming schemes, traditionally metros around the world run pretty slow, and with very very close stop spacing.

Ie. stop spacing on the Paris Metro, New York Subway, Toronto Subway, Moscow Metro etc. are quite often less than a kilometre apart.

Paris also uses rubber tires. We don't have to copy every aspect.

Adding stations would only add cost, and adding one at Camellia - which has no catchment - makes little sense.

I dont think it has to be a 'slow' metro, but come on 7km is clearly too much and there are plenty of possible sites with catchment between Sydney Olympic Park.

My choice would be Sliverwater Road.
This would allow north south bus routes to flow into the station. It also has existing residential from the bottom half of Newington. And of course some of the industrial land could be rezoned around the metro station.

Quote from: #Metro on April 14, 2023, 04:21:01 AMOh great, more expensive, slower and fewer passengers 

Camellia? There is not a single house in Camellia! It had an asbestos plant and an oil refinery.

The place is an industrial wasteland, and likely contaminated too. $$$

Why not make it VLSR while he's at it too...?

You might want to know that Camellia is forecast to have 10,000 homes, 15,400 jobs and an 18-hour per day entertainment precinct.

https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/plans-for-your-area/priority-growth-areas-and-precincts/camellia-rosehill

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1683848847397888000

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1683849284909928448

Rail Express --> ARA says Sydney Metro West cannot be scrapped

QuoteThe Australasian Railway Association (ARA) says the Sydney Metro West line to Parramatta must proceed as planned, as it would ultimately be more expensive to halt works already underway and severely impact Sydney's growing western suburbs.

ARA chief executive Caroline Wilkie said stopping this once-in-a-century transport infrastructure project – which would double rail capacity between the two CBDs – would have negative impacts on the wider community.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns this week refused to rule out cancelling or delaying the $25 billion project, which he doubted could be delivered at that cost. ...

Sydney Morning Herald --> Minns' Metro West charade is a betrayal of Labor's reclaimed heartland $

QuoteJust four months after they finally wrestled back government from the Coalition, NSW Labor is prepared to walk head-on into a political disaster for no conceivable reason. Premier Chris Minns is willing to ostracise Labor heartland by threatening the future of the city's most important public transport project. ...

They won't scrap it, but Minns is sending all of the wrong messages and is being raked over the coals for it - and rightly.

NSW Labor and not building rail, name a more iconic duo.

So stupid, they endlessly cancelled projects in the bad old Carr/Rees/Iemma/Keneally, now Minns has willingly ended his honeymoon period by doing the exact same thing!

Commentator seems to think that adding stations can only add people to a train line.

New stations add new passengers (access) but they also subtract them (extra stops increases the car-PT journey time gap). There is a sweet spot range of stations you can have, balancing multiple factors. Additional stations also means additional costs, which designers might compensate for by designing a shorter line than otherwise.