|
Item 8.1 - Attachment 1
|
Submission on Rail
Links to Parramatta
|
Submission on Rail Links to Parramatta
(Parramatta Epping Rail Link and Hills Rail
Link)
Parramatta City Council 28 March 2011
1. Summary
Parramatta City Council is calling on State and Federal
Governments to deliver the Parramatta Epping Rail Link and the Hills Rail Link,
to establish Parramatta as Sydney’s second CBD and enable the Sydney
Metropolitan Region to grow jobs and population sustainably by creating a
poly-centric city of cities.
2. Background
The Parramatta Rail
Link was announced in 1998 with the Parramatta
to Epping section deferred in 2003.
During the 2010 Federal Government election campaign, the Gillard
Federal Government promised funding ($2.1b) for PERL. Shortly after, State Government announced
plans to start work on the link in 2011.
In February 2011, a funding agreement was signed between Federal and
State Governments.
Integrated Transport Plan for Parramatta City Centre (PCC 2010)
In May 2010, Council adopted the Integrated Transport Plan
for Parramatta City Centre. This
included a commitment to investigating and lobbying State and Federal Governments
on both the Parramatta Epping Rail (PERL) and the Castle Hill Rail Link as
shown below.
Updated
Submission to Infrastructure Australia
(NSW State Government 2010)
In August 2010, State Government made an Updated Submission to
Infrastructure Australia (IA). This
included revised details of the Parramatta Epping Rail Link (PERL) station
alignment in Parramatta
from east-west to north-south and indicated a proposed southwards future
extension to Hurstville. The submission
also stated that investigation of the alignment is required to determine if
there is a more appropriate connection to the Carlingford Line than
Rosehill-Camellia. The service for the new line would be Parramatta to St Leonards.
The IA Submission also contains details of the proposed service to
operate on the North West Rail Link (NWRL).
It states that with the introduction of services on the NWRL, services
on the North Shore Line will be reduced from 4 to 2 trains per hour and that
half of the services on the NWRL would travel via Chatswood (4) and the other half
via Strathfield (4). The submission also
states that completion of the City Relief Line (Redfern to Wynyard) will
release capacity to operate NWRL services via Strathfield.
Metropolitan Plan for Sydney
2036 (NSW State Government 2010)
The Plan extends the global arc of knowledge jobs from Macquarie Park
to Parramatta. It also outlines the change of course of the
development of Metropolitan Sydney from a mono-centric focus on Sydney CBD to a
poly-centric city or city of cities model.
Parramatta
is recognised as the second CBD of this poly-centric city model which provides residents
with access to their nearest regional city within 30 minutes.
Strategic Rail Advice to Parramatta City Council (SKM and JE 2011)
This report commissioned by Parramatta City Council reviews
several rail link options to Parramatta including PERL, NWRL and Hills Rail
Link. This advice has been used to produce
this submission which has been subsequently developed by Council.
3. Possible
changes to the Parramatta Epping Rail Link (PERL)
The NSW Metropolitan Plan indicates that PERL will have a
north-south station in Parramatta
to allow for a future extension to Hurstville.
See Rail Links to Parramatta
Regional and Metro Maps. A north-south Parramatta station lends
itself to the PERL approaching from the north rather than the east as
previously planned. In addition, the
Rosehill-Camellia station is at the tunnel portal entrance which lies within
the flood plain making the line extremely difficult and expensive to
construct. To this effect Council
proposes that the PERL alignment be amended to consider serving Parramatta North
(in the vicinity of Church St/Victoria) rather than Rosehill-Camellia.
4. Impact
of an amended PERL
The situation has fundamentally changed since this project
was approved in 2001. The link was assumed to have a peak of 6,000 people per
day using it, but the University of Western Sydney (UWS) now has plans for
10,000 extra students, within 10 years, of which the majority will come by
train.
|
Item 8.1 - Attachment 1
|
Submission on Rail
Links to Parramatta
|
In addition, Council’s Civic Place development will bring
another 10,000 people to Parramatta
city centre daily. Therefore this rail link is far more important today than it
was originally.
The amended PERL alignment will:
· Physically extend the Global Arc from Macquarie Park to
Parramatta and provide direct access to jobs and university education.
· Support 7% of the existing 90,000 daily workforce who commute
to Parramatta from Hornsby to Ryde.
· Support the planned growth in Parramatta city centre of
20,000 residents and 30,000 jobs.
· Provide a second city centre station and relieve Parramatta
station – CityRail’s 4th busiest station. This proposed station will also support the
planned growth of northern precinct of the city as well the existing high
density residential and Parramatta Stadium.
· Significantly support urban renewal of the Rydalmere
precinct together with the planned growth of UWS. The proposed new Rydalmere
Technology Park will potential bring 11,000 new jobs to the region.
· Support the existing and planned residential developments
at Telopea and Carlingford.
· Generate opportunities for significant Park & Ride at
Rydalmere and Carlingford.
· Avoid the need to connect to Sydney CBD and the subsequent
need for the Second Harbour Rail Crossing as the service only extends to the
North Shore. The Western Line provides
the connection to Sydney CBD thus deferring the need for Second Harbour
Crossing which the North West Rail Link hastens.
5. Impact
of the North West Rail Link (NWRL)
Once the NWRL is complete, the NWRL trains will add rail
congestion to the North Shore Line to Sydney CBD. To
partially address this impact, the Keneally State Government planned to operate
half of the NWRL trains via Strathfield which in turn, relied upon the
completion of the Western Express including the City Relief Line to create
additional network capacity. The other
half of the NWRL trains would operate via Chatswood with a reduction in North
Shore Line services.
If neither the City Relief Line nor the Second Harbour
Crossing is complete then the State Government
of the day will need to decide to whether to limit the number of NWRL services
to Sydney, reduce
Western Line or North Shore Line services to create the required capacity. Consequently once the NWRL is complete then
there would be a need to proceed with the City Relief Line and or the Second
Harbour Crossing to provide sufficient capacity for the NWRL trains to be properly
integrated into the rail network.
The recently released document, New Era In Infrastructure
Investment (Property Council of Australia 2011) is misleading in ranking the
NWRL as having the greatest economic value to the NSW economy. The report is based on the report Investment
In Transport In NSW (Centre for International Economics 2011) which assumes 7
large infrastructure projects are complete by 2020 (Sydney Port Freight Links,
NWRL, M4 East and tunnel to Botany, Light Rail Extensions, F3-M2 Link, PERL and
Western Express, City Relief Line & Second Harbour Crossing). It is extremely unlikely that all of these
projects will be complete by 2020 and the report fails to consider the economic
impact of NWRL dependent projects (Second Harbour Crossing & City Relief
Line) not being complete by 2020. The
report admits that the benefits of these two dependent projects have not been
considered which further questions of the value of both documents in determining
future infrastructure investment in NSW.
There is significant concern that if the incoming State Government
proceeds with the NWRL, then the likely impact upon PERL will be that it will
be deferred for 15 to 20 years while the City Relief Line and Second Harbour
Crossing rail projects are delivered to solve rail congestion created by the
NWRL.
The NWRL continues
the mono-centric focus on Sydney CBD which will result in ever increasing
commute times and costly infrastructure to connect outer suburbs (Growth
Areas), some 50km from Sydney CBD.
It was planned at a time when jobs growth was focused on Sydney CBD
without any regard to the future growth of Parramatta.
There is a common misconception that the NWRL will service the NW Growth
Area when in if fact the Western Line (Richmond Branch) passes through the
heart of it while Rouse Hill on the NWRL is on its eastern edge.
It is suggested
that the Hills Rail Link be considered as:
· It defers the need for the Second Harbour Crossing,
estimated as $8b, with PERL providing a connection to Macquarie Park and the
North Shore.
· The residents of the Hills commute in equal numbers to
Parramatta and to Sydney CBD’s.
· It creates a poly-centric city of cities linking the NW
with the closest regional city and Sydney’s second CBD – Parramatta.
6. Hills
Rail Link and it’s impact
The Hills Rail Link is
proposed to link Rouse Hill to Parramatta using
the NWRL alignment (Rouse Hill to Castle Hill) with a new rail link to Parramatta (under Windsor Rd). See Rail Links to Parramatta Regional Map. From the 2006 ABS data it is estimated that
20.0% (16,758) of commuters from the Hills could travel via the Hills Rail Link
to Parramatta and
beyond while 20.5% (17,176) could use the NWRL to Beecroft and beyond including
Sydney CBD. It is worth noting that the
10.6% (8,576) that travel to Sydney CBD could use the Hills Rail Link in the
same time (see below). But the NWRL will not benefit the 11% (9,270) that
travel to Parramatta
daily from the Hills. This rail link
route better connects the North West commuters
to jobs in Parramatta and Sydney CBD as well students
to UWS, while in reverse it connects Western Sydney residents to jobs in the North West.
The estimated commute time
from Castle Hill to Town Hall via the NWRL is 50 minutes and less than 50
minutes via the Hills Rail Link. In
addition, Parramatta
is only 10 minutes from Castle Hill via the proposed Hills Rail Link.
The Hills Rail Link will:
· Support growth in Parramatta city centre of 20,000 residents
and 30,000 jobs.
· Provide interchange at Parramatta with access to Sydney
CBD, Western Sydney and South Western Sydney.
· Provide
a second city centre station at Parramatta North which will relieve Parramatta
station – CityRail’s 4th busiest station.
Support the realisation of land use zoning controls in the northern half
of the city centre, the existing high density residential and Parramatta
Stadium. Also provide interchange
to/from Macquarie Park and the North Shore.
· Provide
a station at Northmead that will support the planned and existing high density
residential development as well as the existing retail centre.
· Provide
a station at Baulkham Hills to support the existing centre.
· Provide
relief to existing traffic congestion on Windsor Road and Old Northern Rd.
· Generate
opportunities for Park & Ride at Winston Hills (M2/Windsor Rd) and
Northmead (James Ruse Dr/Cumberland Highway).
7. Impact
of South West Rail Link (SWRL)
The completion of the SWRL (Glenfield to Leppington) allows
the Cumberland Line to be reinstated with a half hourly service from Leppington
to Blacktown via Parramatta.
This service was reduced to 5 trains a day in 2005 and reintroducing it
provides residents in South West Sydney with direct access to jobs in Western Sydney. It
will also provide commuters with access to jobs in North West Sydney (via the
Hills Rail Link) and the Global Arc (via PERL) and students to UWS and Macquarie University.
8. Summary
- Impact on Metropolitan Sydney
Sydney CBD is off-centre with Bondi less than 10km away on
its eastern edge while Penrith on its western edge is nearly 60km away. Parramatta is
at the geographical centre of metropolitan Sydney.
See Rail Links to Parramatta
Metro Map.
The amended Parramatta Epping Rail Link will not only
connect Parramatta to Macquarie
Park, but workers and students in
Western Sydney and South West Sydney to UWS and the proposed Technology Park
in Rydalmere, Macquarie Park and North
Shore. In reverse it will connect the Central Coast
and the North Shore
to Parramatta, Western Sydney, South West Sydney
and the North West
(via the Hills Rail Link).
The proposed Hills Rail Link will connect commuters and
students in the North West to Parramatta,
Rydalmere, Western Sydney, South West Sydney, Macquarie
Park & the North Shore
as well as Sydney CBD.
The reinstatement of the Cumberland Line will directly
connect South West Sydney with Western Sydney via Parramatta
and also provide access to jobs and education in the North
West, Rydalmere (UWS), Macquarie
Park and the North Shore.
These three rail links realise Parramatta’s
position as the second CBD of Metropolitan Sydney with Parramatta providing an important gateway. It
creates a poly-centric world city with Sydney in
the east and Parramatta
in the west.
Parramatta
with strong regional public transport links will provide Sydney CBD with
transport relief and allow it to grow without the need to significantly
increase the peak travel capacity or infrastructure from the outlying western
fringes including the NW and SW growth areas.
This poly-centric city model will provide metropolitan Sydney with the future infrastructure links
needed to achieve sustainable growth of jobs, education and population.
REFERENCE MATERIAL
1. Strategic
Rail Advice to Parramatta City Council (SKM and JE 2011) – This report is
confidential as it contains consultant recommendations on land zoning in
Rydalmere.
2. Integrated
Transport Plan for Parramatta City
Centre (PCC 2010)
3. Updated
Submission by the NSW State Government 2010 to Infrastructure Australia (Transport NSW 2010)
4. Metropolitan
Plan for Sydney 2036 (Department of Planning 2010)
