The new Labor Government’s decision to review Sydney Metro West has led to speculation that additional stations could be added to the line. The previous government resisted calls to do this as it would have added travel time, opting to keep a 20 minute journey between Parramatta and the CBD as a core goal of the new line. However, with tunnelling already underway, the alignment and depths of the tunnels pose a challenge for adding new stations, with the currently planned stations being 18m-30m below ground but potential stations being as deep as 91m. In addition, new stations will likely add to construction costs that have already blown out from $15bn to as high as an estimated $27bn. The incoming government may seek to recoup some of this with new residential developments, a strategy that is consistent with more stations.
The most glaring segment in terms of lack of stations is the 7km between Parramatta and Sydney Olympic Park. An additional station or even two could fit in this segment. Camellia is possible, if the alignment is re-routed. Stations at Rosehill or Silverwater would be too deep unless the tunnel depths are adjusted. However, a station at Newington appears possible, given the change in NSW Government priority on housing. A recent SMH article suggests that Camellia and Silverwater, both in this segment, were the most likely additions to the line.
A station for Camellia was investigated and looked positive as it “could be located in the future Camellia Town Centre, offering an opportunity for an interchange with the future Parramatta Light Rail and supporting urban renewal” (Metro West EIS 2020, p. 3-4). However, this would be on a Northern alignment that is different from the final choice of a Southern route between Parramatta and Sydney Olympic Park. Building a station here would require a redesign of the tunnel alignment. This is easier for this part of the line, as even before delays to the project Tunnel Boring Machines were not set to begin digging here until the final quarter of 2023.
Though not initially investigated, two station locations are possible at Rosehill. One where the old Rosehill Station was located (point 10 on the map above), next to the racecourse itself. However, this would be 42m deep. The other option is at the Rosehill service facilty (point 12 on the map above). This is a much shallower 27m deep, but provides limited connectivity.
A station at Silverwater was rejected because it “would not align with the Government’s current strategic land use vision to retain essential urban services in this area” (Metro West EIS 2020, p. 3-4) due to the significant industrial land. A services facility is currently planned for Silverwater (roughly point 17 on the map below) but this is 44m deep.
A Newington station shows the most promise. It was initially rejected because it “would not align with the current strategic land use vision for this area which seeks to retain the existing residential community without any significant increase in density, enabling the retention and protection of essential industrial and urban services land in adjoining Silverwater” (Metro West EIS 2020, p. 3-5). However, with the new Labor Government seeking to rezone and redevelop land, a station at Newington (point 20 on the map above) at just over 30m deep seems like the most likely option that does not involve re-designing the tunnel routes.
Sydney Metro West has another long segment, with 5km between Five Dock and The Bays. An additional station could be possible, either at Lilyfield or Leichhardt North. However, on closer inspection neither seems likely at this stage in the project.
A station at Lilyfield is possible at two locations. First is at Callan Park (point 48 on the map above), but would be 91m deep and entirely heritage listed, thus limiting any potential development. The other is at Leichhardt Oval (point 46 on the map), but this would still be 58m deep and again lack opportunity for redevelopment that the government would likely seek when adding new stations.
A station at Leichhardt North was initially rejected as it “would present challenging constructability and deliverability due to interaction with the Rozelle Interchange and Hawthorne Canal” while also requiring a “very deep station” (Metro West EIS 2020, p. 3-7). A convenient station location is available next to the Leichhardt North light rail station, as the NSW Government purchased the Dan Murphys site for the Westconnex project but then never used it. However, as of July 2023, the two Tunnel Boring Machines progressing West are 250m from Balmain Road, and would need to change direction for a new Southern alignment around there. This would take time and so a quick decision would need to be made. Given that the NSW Government is awaiting the results of a review into Metro West that is still months away and that any delays would add to costs, this would appear unlikely.
The final option for additional stations on the line involves extending the line East past the CBD terminus at Hunter St. The City of Sydney has been calling for a station at Zetland for quite some time, while Federal MP for Sydney Tanya Plibersek recently added her name to the list of those calling for a station at Zetland.
Transport Sydney 
Couple of points:
1) the cost has not ‘blown out’ from $15bn. The business case (unpublished) was approved on a figure in the $20bns
2) you are ignoring the time required for redesign, and in the case of horizontal alignment changes, planning mods, in evaluating the possibilities. The former takes a few months, the latter over a year. You can’t just drive TBMs where you want. This means tunnel contracts would need to be suspended, which comes at a very high cost
Name ten blunders with West Metro. How would they be corrected. Clearly the government needs to adopt a holistic, sequential, long-term, 100-year transport plan for NSW. Ad hoc planning is still not working.
Less stations for Metro West. The five stations that need to be terminated are Hunter Street, Pyrmont, The Bays, Five Dock and Westmead. Building the relevant section of the NSW Fast Train Network is an even better choice especially if speed between the two CBD’s is the priority. Travel the 20kms in 6 minutes.
The whole Metro West project makes no sense. It has contradictory objectives. A metro usually stops every km or so and connects walkable high density area with stations close to the surface with quick access to platforms. None of this exists.
The high density is assumed to be artificially created by future apartment towers around stations. Whether they will be affordable housing is an open question. Construction costs are high i.a. due to high energy costs. The Victorian conventional gas production will decline in the next years, a problem which will not go away but will get worse.
A fast trip CBD – Parramatta – Blacktown is best achieved by increasing capacity on the heavy rail line west of Strathfield.
The original plan was the Chatswood – Epping – Parramatta rail link adding east – west capacity but that project was destroyed by introducing the North West Metro (which does not even connect to the Richmond line).
At that point in 2011/12, proper transport planning was abandoned and replaced by favouritism for tunnel contractors and developers.
@Pjh. You have to accept that there are lots of serious design flaws. The options are to spend the $20bn+ to complete a white elelphant, dump the whole project and the $5bn already spent plus compensation payments or spend some extra tine and probably extra money to get a project that actually provides some benefit. My vote is for option 3 but I accept there are lots of votes for the other two.
I despair. When it comes to transport we seem to have a choice between one party that does nothing and one that does nithing right.
A core goal of a 20 minute journey time from Parramatta to the CBD, which is Hunter St in this instance, has by its nature restricted the number of stations along the route. It may or not be feasible to add more stations at this late stage, but it may have been possible during the design stage if the journey time wasn’t an overriding consideration.
Hunter St would be only one of ten stations in the CBD, including Barangaroo and Pitt St, and access to any of the other stations and their environs from Hunter St will require a long walk or interchange to another line which will increase the journey time. It depends on which destination you classify as the CBD.
In an attempt to boost the merits of Metro West, the previous government pushed the faster journey time, knowing full well that it could also be provided on the existing Sydney Trains’ network with the proposed digital upgrades. The current fastest express journey time from Parramatta to Central, which BTW is also in the CBD, is 25 minutes and that’s since the timetable was slowed down in 2005 to improve on-time running statistics. The digital signalling and ATO upgrades will at the very least allow a return to the pre-2005 timetable if not better it. Metro West should focus on maximising its catchment area with more stations, if feasible, rather than a faster journey time.
The other core goal of Metro West is to relieve congestion on the existing T1 Western Line, but that objective is also misplaced as it will do nothing to relieve pre-Covid overcrowding on T1 west of Parramatta/Westmead.
There is ample spare capacity to run more services on this sector, but they are unable to continue through to the CBD because of the constrained rail corridor to the east where other lines merge. The theory is that more services from the outer west and Richmond lines to relieve overcrowding could terminate at Parramatta/Westmead or run down the Cumberland Line, which would require interchange to either existing Sydney Trains services or Metro West towards the Sydney CBD. I can’t see how either option would be feasible nor popular with commuters.
T3 commuters west of Bankstown have already rejected the concept of interchanging to the metro at Bankstown to reach the CBD following community consultation and TfNSW has agreed to reinstate the direct Liverpool via Regents Park service to the City Circle. I don’t expect that T1 commuters would react any differently.
While I support Metro West as servicing a new rail corridor between Parramatta and the CBD, I don’t think it deserves the priority it’s been given, when it fails in its primary goals of providing a faster journey time to the CBD, at the expense of reducing its potential patronage with fewer stations, or relieving congestion on the outer T1 Western and Richmond Lines.
The alternative option of upgrading the existing T1 Line with the proposed sextuplication between Homebush and Granville, at far less cost, was rejected by the previous government, which IMO was for ideological reasons favouring the privately operated metro system.
In conjunction with a City Relief Line to Wynyard, branching from the Western Main Line at Eveleigh, and a possible extension across the eastern traffic lanes of the Harbour Bridge to the Northern Beaches, it could have provided additional T1 capacity to the CBD. An example of the proposed sextuplication is shown below.
@Ray The whole 20 minute thing just shows how little the previous government understood about what metros are and what they do.
I am still sceptical about the received wisdom of contraints on the existing routes through the CBD. Even without the metro, there are three routes through the CBD i.e. T1, City Circle and ESR; with decent signalling and management this could mean 45-60 trains/hour in each direction.
I am also not convinced about the unwillingness of commuters to change trains. The T3 WOB commuters made a lot of noise – justifiably because there is a risk they will lose service completely (as part of a public transport revolution – go figure) and the refusal to provide cross platform transfer at Bankstown – but speed and convenience will win out once (if) the Bankstown metro happens. You only have to look at the number of people who change at Central rather than spend an extra few minutes going round the city circle.
Finally, there is scope to address T3 issues and capacity constraints simultaneously as well as starting to build a truly inter-suburban network by running some West of Parramatta trains via the Bridge Street overpass to Bankstown, and possibly even T9 trains via Chullora to Belmore.
Looking at these maps and cross-checking google maps sattelite, I can’t see why Olympic Park-Rose Hill couldn’t be switched to the surface saving a shedload of money and opening up the possibility of any number of extra stations.
Stop mucking around with what is an optimal design for this line. Look at what happened to the Epping-Chatswood line, when greenies objected to a little bridge over the Lane Cove River. The tunnelling was forced much deeper, making the station at the old UTS site impractical (despite a huge number of home being built there) and increasing times, work and CO2 emissions for the trains. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
As I said in my earlier post, they should drop the idea of a faster journey time, which can be provided by upgrading the existing T1 Line, and instead focus on maximising its catchment area with more stations if feasible at this late stage. It may not be, but it’s worth investigating. The same goes for an extension to Zetland from the Hunter St terminus, but that shouldn’t delay current construction as stub tunnels for a future extension are proposed under The Domain.
In the meantime, construction continues with the TBMs well underway.
I think the previous LNP government got it right (or close to right).
i’ve noticed there’s a common misconception that ‘Metro’ must mean stations at 1km spacing to service high density aka Singapore & Tokyo
That was an older way of thinking, i.e. single deck metro (short distances) vs double deckers (long distances).
The better terminology to use is ‘Rapid Mass Transit’ which just means rail to move lots of people quickly. There’s plenty of examples of cities with ‘metros’ that cover large distances like what Sydney is doing.
I think the previous government got the balance about right; the new station at Rosehill is probably a good addition.
Journey times need to be about 20 minutes between Parramatta and the CBD to provide a competitive commute time and to minimise the time that commuters might spend standing.
Metro West connects a lot of hubs – Sydney Olympic Park is a big one & to have a 15 minute connection to Pyrmont / Darling Harbor / CBD will be huge. Pyrmont is significant as it’s in a transport black hole and the Bays opens up more of the harbor and will provide access to Balmain.
Ever since Sydney lost the Sydney Entertainment Center and moved all concerts out to Olympic Park it’s had a negative impact on CBD patronage – this should help revitalize the CBD nightlife.
Stations at Fivedock, Burwood North & North Strathfield will open up this area of Sydney for more densification and provides some relief to the Northern Line & to Strathfield.
Also – not sure why people are complaining that Metro West won’t relieve capacity west of Paramatta – this is one one stage of the Metro and it will expand further West (and East from the CBD) eventually.
And taking passengers off the Western Line from Westmead, Paramatta and Strathfield is significant and will provide noticeable relief.
There’s no guarantee that Metro West will extend further west from Westmead. The Minns government doesn’t support it and who knows how long it will be before an LNP government is re-elected? Even if it was extended further west to Western Sydney Airport, it wouldn’t offer much relief to the existing line, as it would run in a south-westerly direction, whereas the existing line to Blacktown runs in a different direction to the north-west.
As for the assertion that MW will somehow reduce the most overcrowding on the T1 Line west of Parramatta, when it doesn’t even service that corridor, other than interchange, I have addressed that in my earlier post of July 30, 2023. It should be noted that there are more exists than entries at Parramatta in the morning peak.