3 separate rail lines would connect passengers to St Marys, Schofields, Macarthur, Parramatta, Glenfield, and Liverpool as part of a planned rail interchange station at the Western Sydney Aerotropolis Core according to government plans released earlier this week. A map (seen below) shows a completed Metro Western Sydney Airport extending to Schofields in the North and Macarthur in the South. Meanwhile, the soon to be under construction Metro West would be extended from Westmead out to the Nancy-Bird Walton Airport and then on to the Aerotropolis Core. Finally, the South West Rail Line would be extended from the current terminus at Leppington through to the Aerotropolis Core.
Another map (below), showing all of Greater Sydney, is the first to show the Eastern extension of Metro West from the Sydney CBD to La Perouse and a new metro line connecting Randwick to Kogarah via the Kingsford Smith Airport at Mascot. Together with an extension of both ends of Sydney existing single metro line from Tallawong to Schofields and from Bankstown to Liverpool, this represents a total of 4 metro lines, built over a total of 11 stages.
Of these stages, Metro North West has been completed and opened (2019), Metro City and South West is currently under construction (set to open in 2024), and two stages will begin construction later this year – Metro Western Sydney Airport (set to open in 2026) and Metro West (set to open in 2030). Indicative timelines have been given for two other stages, with an extension of Metro West out to La Perouse (potentially opening in 2041) and a new metro from Randwick to Kogarah (potentially opening in 2056). There is no indication of when the remaining five stages will be built: one from Westmead to the Aerotroplis Core, one on each end of Metro Western Sydney Airport, and one on each end of the current line at Tallawong in the North and Bankstown in the South. Nor is there any indication on timing for an extension of the Sydney Trains South West Line from Leppington to the Aerotropolis Core.
The new Metro Western Sydney Airport will feature shorter trains: initially 3 carriage trains which will eventually lengthen to 4 carriages. This compares to the standard 8 carriage trains across the Sydney Trains network and 6 (later to be extended to 8) carriage trains on Sydney Metro. However, the station designs released as part of the Environmental Impact Study show station platforms of approximately 200m, enough for an 8 carriage train. While this would be logical within the Aerotropolis section, which will share stations with the longer 8 carriage trains of Sydney Metro and Sydney Trains, this remains the case in other stations which only run Metro Western Sydney Airport trains, such as St Marys Station shown below.
Trains on this new metro line would initially operate at a frequency of 12 per hour during the peak, but could eventually be scaled up to 20 per hour. The journey from St Marys to the Aerotropolis Core would take 20 minutes, while a journey from St Marys to the Airport Terminal would take 15 minutes.
The Aerotropolis Core Station itself would end up functioning as a major interchange point. Much like Epping, Chatswood, Strathfield, or Wolli Creek function now.
The EIS is on exhibition at the NSW Planning website. Members of the public are able to make submissions until 2 December 2020.
Commentary: The rise of Western Sydney’s new CBD
The Western Parkland City is still unnamed and, with the exception of an under construction airport that is still half a decade away from opening, remains mostly a collection of paddocks and rural properties. However, it is set to get the transport infrastructure it needs to begin building the next CBD in Sydney’s West. This new metro line is needed, not to service the new airport and its passengers, but for the new city that will pop up around the airport.
That key point is often missed.
Few passengers will want to take a 15 minute train to St Marys and then change for a long 50 minute train journey into the Sydney CBD. Eventually, once the airport is big enough, the metro out to Westmead can be further extended to the Nancy-Bird Walton Airport and the Aerotropolis Core. Extending the South West Line to provide a rail connection to Glenfield and Liverpool is a quick and easy addition that will cement this new city as a major transport interchange.
But with this location currently vacant, now is the time to think big. A decade ago the Australian Government released its High Speed Rail study that found that a HSR line from Melbourne to Brisbane via Sydney would cost upwards of $100bn and that a third of this cost would be tunnelling through built up cities. The portion of the line running through Sydney, in particular, was responsible for heavily inflating this price tag.
Whether or not a HSR line is built on Australia’s East Coast, this new major interchange presents a rare opportunity for the Government: it should reserve a corridor to and from the Aerotropolis Core and space for a station box next to this interchange. Doing so now is cheap, and if it means avoiding tens of billions of dollars in tunnelling costs by allowing passengers to continue into the Sydney CBD on an express metro via Parramatta, then it may prove to be a even bigger financial boon. For those travelling to other parts of the city, direct connections will also be available in other directions.
And if it doesn’t end up needing the land, it can always be sold off in future for a tidy profit. But the time to act is now.
Transport Sydney 
Thanks Bambul for this.
I’m in the process of writing something covering similar ground, though I’m concentrating more on the role of Metro WSA as the first stage of an outer Western Sydney orbital corridor similar to the Melbourne Suburban Rail Loop. This could be the rationale for all stations along the Metro WSA route being built with an eight-car capacity.
I also agree with your suggestion regarding reserving part of the corridor for a future east coast HSR line. Ironically such a line was also proposed by an alternative economics study critical of the airport as an alternative option to WSA to generate employment in the region: http://www.jobsforthewest.com/
Whether an HSR is built (and regardless of what people think of the airport) I think the role of the Aerotropolis core as a major interchange, combined with the orbital rail corridor, could be as significant for the region as the airport itself.
I am critical of one thing about Metro WSA’s design though – the way that similar to Metro Sydney West it has too few stations along the corridor. I’m not talking about adding a lot more, but just as Metro West could do with an additional station at Camellia or Rydalmere and possibly one at Balmain, Metro WSA should have at least one extra station, at Claremont Meadows. This would be within walking distance of the WSA Kingswood campus and service existing suburbs south of the highway.
@Alex – I think we are in furious agreement here. It’s particularly strange given how much of this line is greenfields and on the surface, which would keep the costs down. It also doesn’t have the critical journey duration that Metro West has. Looking forward to see what you write!
The level of fragmented and short-sighted planning by TfNSW continues to amaze. Why are small, Isolated projects continuing to be suggested? Why is there still no overall plan? The government needs to adopt the holistic, visionary, integrated, prioritised, sequential, long-term,100-year plan for NSW? This would facilitate the building of the highest priority projects first. This would maximise integration. This would minimise costs.This would make sense.
In Sydney, metromania has broken out. Metros are normally used for very specific purposes, namely in high density areas with frequent stops and walkable catchments like you encounter them in London or Paris. Western Sydney is anything but high density. The distances between St Marys, Orchard Hills, Luddenham Rd and the Business Park are around 5 km. This is not a job for a metro. Connecting St Marys with Leppington and MacArthur/Campbelltown should be done by heavy rail, especially as the airport must also be accessible to/from the southern areas up to Goulburn.
But the killer assumption for the aerotropolis is the volume of air traffic. In its Airport Plan 2039 KSA plans for 65 million passengers pa. Then WSA thinks it can get an additional 18 mill in that year, together 83 mill. Neither the Federal nor the State Governments have reviewed these numbers under Covid scenarios.
Therefore, a rail line must also work without much air traffic or a reduced/different role of the aerotropolis.
Due to low oil prices, E&P investments have dropped, in 2020 to only half of what it used to be in 2014. That will have an impact on oil production capacity in a couple of years time. The Norwegian energy consultant Rystad estimates that in 2023 oil prices may go up to $75/barrel – which will again damage the world economy. Peak oil is not gone. Alan Kohler recently showed a graph that globalization started to stall in 2006. There will be surprises.
I maintain that it is short-sighted in terminating the SWRL extension from Leppington at the Aerotropolis and not extending it one further stop to at least the Airport station. I also believe that the SWRL extension should be given greater priority than the metro lines. It would be a lot simpler and at a more modest cost than any of the metro line options as an initial rail link. The metro lines can follow on as the population density along their respective routes increases. They are mostly through undeveloped greenfield sites.
The SWRL extension would provide more immediate access by rail from existing developed areas to the east of the airport, including Liverpool and Campbelltown, as well as the fast growing South West Growth Region. It will be some years before the metro extensions to Macarthur, Schofields and Parramatta are completed. An additional bonus is that in can also potentially provide a more direct fast express service from Western Sydney Airport to the CBD via the East Hills Line and Sydenham, without the need to interchange. It doesn’t preclude compatible SD trains being utilised for such a service, similar to the Hong Kong Airport Express. As ATO is being rolled out across the Sydney Trains network over the next decade, it will allow for much faster journey times with greater frequencies.
I don’t accept the premise that WSA will primarily cater for Western Sydney residents, as unlike Sydney Airport, it will not have a curfew. It is also anticipated that it would attract budget air carriers and I’d suggest that most of their inbound tourists are more likely to travel to the CBD and other eastern destinations and return. The Federal Government proposes to sell off the airport once it’s up and running and any private owner would want to compete aggressively with Sydney Airport for business without restriction.
I have serious doubts about whether HSR will ever be viable in Australia because of our low population density, particularly in between the Capital cities. The major trunk routes of Sydney/Melbourne and Sydney/Brisbane are at the limit of distances for viable HSR and they would have their work cut out to compete with air travel, particularly on fares, which are unlikely to be subsidized. This isn’t Europe or China. We should focus on upgrading the existing rail networks to Medium Speed Rail standard (MSR), which is up to 200km/h, connecting our Capital cities with their respective regional centres. It would also significantly improve upon existing inter-capital rail travel journey times. Consequently, I see no need to reserve corridors and station sites for HSR at the airport, as the proposed rail links connecting with it should be adequate enough.
In any event, even if a HSR network was implemented, the major trip generators, particularly for tourists, would be the respective Capital city CBD’s. I can’t imagine that it would be popular to have to travel to WSA for example and then interchange to a slower suburban train (or metro) to reach the CBD.
If there is a reservation for HSR does that mean it won’t go to the CBD? $100bn for Mel-Syd-Bri HSR only makes sense if the oil price explodes. Having spent $20b. (?) on the airport it doesn’t make sense to spend $100b. on HSR.
HSR would have to be 600kph maglev to be attractive.
The introduction of EVs may keep oil prices down.
I recommend watching the following: https://youtu.be/y916mxoio0E
He starts his analysis of five disruptive technologies coming together – batteries, electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, on demand transportation, solar power.
He predicts that by 2030 95% of vehicle miles travelled will be in autonomous electric vehicles and people will stop buying private cars because transport-as-a-service will be 10x cheaper. Peak oil is predicted for 2022. Only two self driving technologies will control 90% of the market. Space allocated for parking cars will become available for other purposes. All for simple economic reasons.
The introduction of TAAS will obviously affect other transport modes.
Thanks Tim for that interesting video on EVs.The video ends with saying that this is not about an energy transition which is of course wrong. The disruptions in transport come from peaking energy supplies.China had petrol shortages in 2005 because global crude production started to peak then. 3 years later in May 2008 they went on the oil market with an additional demand of 800 kb/d for the Olympic Games.Saudi Arabia could not pump more oil. That caused the oil price shock and the financial crisis in 2009.
Nuclear power after WW2 was an energy transition away from oil but it did not come far due to waste problems.That should be a warning for us that energy supplies are not to be taken for granted.
If the use of hired/self driving EVs becomes so cheap as claimed in the video, can you imagine what traffic jams we’ll get on the roads?
Australia’s VKT from cars would require an energy supply of around 3,000 MW running 24/7. We have already problems replacing 1,000 MW from Lidell. Grid electricity in NSW is still 60-80% from coal, so EVs would be replacing oil by coal.
I have PV panels on our roof but these are just enough for our household consumption, not for an EV. And since we also have a solar water heater there is not much space left for more PV panels. And all those living in flats and apartment towers the NSW government approves everywhere would have to recharge from the grid.Energy is everything.If that is not sustainable, nothing is.
Is it likely that there will be no or few stations between Westmead and the Airport to keep the overall CBD-WSA travel time to around 45 mins?
@Yug – There are no detailed plans available yet for the Metro West extension to the airport, if in fact they have progressed that far. As I mentioned earlier, completion of Metro West has now been pushed back into the early 2030’s and it could be at least a further decade before the extension to the airport is completed. It will depend on the priority given to the other metro lines.
I would think that the airport extension would have to include at least 2 or 3 intermediate stations between Westmead and the airport, otherwise it couldn’t be justified based on airport and aerotropolis patronage alone. Early discussions had suggested that they would be useful for employees working at the airport and aerotropolis.
This has been one of the problems in planning for Metro West from the very start. They are trying to make it all things to all people in providing conflicting service patterns on a single pair of tracks, i.e. an all stations service with short station spacing to maximise its catchment area and patronage and a fast express service with a minimal number of stops for longer distance journeys. It can’t do both effectively and compromises have to be made. As the metro will be an all stations service, it would be far better to concentrate on that aspect by providing even more stations and leave the fast long distance express services to the existing network which already performs that role with exclusive express tracks. Hence my reasoning for prioritising the extension of the SWRL from Leppington to the airport.
The SWRL extension would not only provide immediate access to the Greater South Western Region, but a more direct fast express service to the CBD much sooner than would otherwise be the case under current plans. Quad track already exists on the East Hills Line and it could easily be extended from Revesby to Glenfield, allowing express trains to overtake the slower all stations services.
ATO will allow the current Waratah DD sets to operate to their maximum service speed of 130km/h and the same goes for any compatible SD trains if they were introduced. I estimate that they could achieve a journey time from the airport to Central in 40-45 minutes with only a few limited stops, much like the Hong Kong Airport Express. An all stations metro service won’t be able to match that with the shorter station spacings as well as dwell times at multiple stations along the route. Using the existing network will potentially allow for a fast direct rail service to the CBD from Day 1 of the airport’s opening and at a fraction of the cost of building a whole new metro line over a similar distance.
@Ray
I remember we had this conversation ages ago, and we both agreed that Metro West should be built more as a local line. I wonder if it’s too late to change the scope for the metro and allow for more stations. Even just adding or earmarking more stations to the existing route would allow for more coverage in the Inner West area. That would at least relieve demand on both the existing main train lines between Strathfield and Central, and buses (and traffic in general) on Parramatta Road.
As for the routes to the airport, I also have to agree with you in extending the existing suburban network instead of using a metro system. Not just cost-wise, but the area where the new airport route goes is clearly of a suburban to ex-urban nature, which is more suited for faster suburban trains. For that reason, and for a possible benefit in serving a faster access to Parramatta, I believe extending/branching off the Western Line from St Marys to the airport is also worth consideration. I even dare mention that works should be done to allow rerouting some intercity trains from the Central Coast and/or the Blue Mountains into the new Airport to serve an even bigger catchment for potential passengers to what is probably going to be the regional airport for Sydney and surrounds.
@Hisashi –
With tenders now called for tunnelling on Metro West between Westmead and the Bays Precinct, it’s probably too late to include additional stations, although I believe they would be warranted despite the extra cost. I’d suggest at least 3 more stations at Camellia, Silverwater and North Leichhardt to fill in the long gaps on those sections, which aren’t typical of a metro. They should drop this silly idea of trying to make it a hybrid fast express/all stops service, when the existing network with appropriate upgrading can provide the express service.
However, there’s no guarantee that Metro West will ever be extended to the Airport and Aerotropolis. As the metro link from St Marys to the Airport and Aerotropolis now seems to be a fait accompli, its northwards and southwards extensions to Schofields and Macarthur respectively would appear to be inevitable, assuming they eventually go ahead.
I would forget about extending Metro West from Westmead to the Airport and instead extend the SWRL from its proposed terminus at the Aerotropolis via the Airport to the Western Line using the more direct metro alignment. It could merge with the inner or outer track pair on the Western Line before Blacktown or Westmead.
I don’t think it would be practicable to reroute some Blue Mountains and Central Coast Intercity services to the Airport as those travellers from the Blue Mountains could interchange to the metro at St Marys and those from the Central Coast could interchange at Strathfield to a T2 service via Regents Park and the SWRL. In the longer term, the latter could interchange to a T1 service via a potential direct link to the Airport from the Western Line, branching at either Westmead or Blacktown.
@Ray
Thanks for replying, and good to hear from you again.
I wonder how difficult would it be to adjust the route alignment (and depth?) to allow for extra stations you mentioned – even if they aren’t going to be built now. I’m hoping that adding a station to Silverwater would not be too hard, considering they’ve already earmarked a maintenance facility there.
As for your comments on rerouting Intercity services, this is under the condition that the NSW Transport decides to go with my T1 suburban branch from St Marys instead of their Metro. Even if that wasn’t practicable, I still think that having at least some of the services from, say, Wyong to Parramatta (which would mean upgrading the wye/triangle west of Strathfield) would be worth thinking about, when Parramatta has become more or less Sydney’s 2nd CBD. Speaking of, I think it may also be worth earmarking extra platform spaces at Parramatta Station as part of the Metro West project, and prepare for expansion works to relocate one of the suburban trains (ideally both the Inner West and the Cumberland lines) stop there.
@Hisashi
I’d say it would be most unlikely that the horizontal and vertical alignments of Metro West would be changed at this late stage, unless some unforeseen problem crops up. Likewise adding extra stations, as much as you and I and many others would like to see it, is also unlikely and would change the whole scope of the project delaying it even further. In saying that, I guess anything is possible under a future government of either persuasion. The Eastern Suburbs Railway and original Parramatta to Chatswood Rail Link are testimonies to that.
I don’t think the level of demand would warrant some Intercity services being rerouted via the new airport. It’s pretty clear that the metro link from St Marys is well advanced, so that rules out a direct service from the Blue Mountains. Airport and Aerotropolis customers would have to change at St Marys. The patronage to and from the airport by rail is only expected to be around 20-25% of total airport customers and employees anyway. I’d be surprised if there would be any more than 6tph on the orphan metro in the early years, which hardly justifies a high capacity metro service, even with its future extensions.
However, I can see some merit in restoring a direct Central Coast Intercity service to Parramatta via the North Strathfield triangle. The triangle between North Strathfield and Flemington where it joins the Western Line was originally double track, but was later reduced to single track. It could easily be reinstated to double track again, if in fact needed. Any such Central Coast services would be operating in the contra-peak direction between the North Strathfield underpass on the Northern Line and Parramatta, perhaps extended to terminating at Blacktown. With this and future demand on the Western Line, regardless of Metro West, it reinforces the need for eventual sextuplication of the Western Line between Homebush and Granville. In the longer term, an express tunnel extending into the CBD will also be needed, but that’s another story.
The station cavern at the Parramatta Metro West station, which is some distance from the existing station by a couple of blocks, only appears to allow for 2 platforms. I can’t see how additional platforms could be added at a later date.
Proposed metro lines linking Parramatta to Norwest, Epping and Kogarah are more likely to have a north/south orientation and it’s anyone’s guess how these will interface with each other and the existing Parramatta Station and future Metro West Station.
The original Parramatta to Chatswood Rail Link had proposed a station cavern below the existing station, with as far as I can recollect, up to 4 platforms. It was fed from a dive off the Western Line between Parramatta and Westmead, which would have allowed direct Western Line services to Chatswood and the CBD via the North Shore Line, taking pressure off the heavily congested Inner West corridor. After objections to the encroachment on a minor part of Parramatta Park for the dive, it was decided to eliminate the dive and terminate the line at the Parramatta Station underground platforms instead, denying direct Western Line services to the North Shore. A poor decision IMO, just like the capitulation to North Shore NIMBYs to replace the proposed high level bridge across the Lane Cove River with a tunnel on a much steeper alignment and eliminating a potential station at the Lindfield UTS campus in the process. This had much broader ramifications as a whole for the future direction of Sydney’s rail network. But I digress.
In my earlier comments I alluded to the possibility that Metro West may never be extended to the Airport and Aerotropolis as it’s so far into the future. That opens up the potential for the proposed corridor to be instead used as an extension of the existing network connecting directly with the SWRL extension at the Aerotropolis. It could connect with the previously proposed underground platforms at Parramatta Station and in turn the sextup between Granville and Homebush.
It would depend on whether the tunnels and station box at the Airport will allow for the higher profile for DD trains (probably unlikely), but it wouldn’t preclude compatible SD trains being used when ATO is fully rolled across the network.
It’s a complete mystery why they would’t extent the rail line from Leppington all the way to the airport. Irrespective of the other projects, it would provide a quick easy cheap ‘stage 1’ rail access.
The surprising thing to me with proposed Metro lines is why they don’t consider extending Sydney Metro to Kingsford Smith using the current Airport Link railway (converting it in a similar fashion as the Epping to Chatswood railway). This could be done relatively quickly & cheaply compared to the other proposals here for a future metro to Kingsford Smith via Randwick or to Badgerys Creek (which will be a much smaller airport). It could even be paid for by extending the current station access fees.
The only significant cost would be a short Tunnel between the new Metro tunnel to the Airport Link tunnel at Waterloo (where they are only 150 metres apart).
T8 trains could be diverted via Sydenham where capacity will be increased due to Bankstown line being converted to Metro.
A rail from Parramatta to the new Sydney airport would come in handy.
Again downgrading heavy rail to metros? Quickly and cheaply? You must be joking. Metromania has gripped Sydney
30/12/2014
Sydney plans to dismantle rail infrastructure built just 6 years ago (part 1)
http://crudeoilpeak.info/sydney-plans-to-dismantle-rail-infrastructure-built-just-6-years-ago-part-1
The benefit cost ratio for Metro West is just 1.04, 1.34 if wider economic benefits are “calculated”
Read my submission to the Inquiry
Click to access Submission-Sydney-Metro-West-LC-Inquiry.pdf
The new Minns’ government has not committed to a feasibility study to extend Metro West from Westmead to the Aerotropolis. It was reported in the SMH that even rail planners within the bureaucracy were sceptical of its cost/benefit. The new government has also declined to support a feasibility study to extend the SW metro from Bankstown to Glenfield, which you would think would make the proposed extension and conversion of the SWRL from Glenfield to the Aerotropolis, for which a business case is already being prepared, unviable.
Nevertheless, the SWRL should still be extended to the Aerotropolis, if not the Airport Terminal and Business Park, if the Metro West extension doesn’t proceed.