North-South Rail link Schofield to Macarthur

[boronia]

Western Sydney City Deal plan puts rail front and centre

https://www.railexpress.com.au/western- ... nd-centre/

$50M for a business case?

[rogf24]

Nice to see the extension of SWRL as a part of the deal.

[boronia]

Hopefully the two lines will join up, not just be parallel

[ed24]

I'm a big fan of this proposal I hope it goes ahead - and preferably in the short term rather than long term

[Transtopic]

Hopefully the two lines will join up, not just be parallel

The proposal so far is to construct the first stage of the North-South Rail link as a metro line between the Badgerys Creek Aerotropolis and St Marys via the new airport, with the longer term goal of extending it to Macarthur and Schofields and a direct link to Parramatta, possibly as an extension of Metro West. Extension of the existing SWRL from Leppington to the Aerotropolis only, to interchange with the metro lines and not to the airport itself, has incredibly been given a low priority, when it should have been the logical first priority.

This is not metro territory, whatever spin the Federal and State governments want to put on it. I suspect this strategy is primarily being influenced by the State government's ideological preference for a privately operated incompatible metro system rather than extending the existing Sydney Trains' system in the outer suburban region, which IMO would be the logical strategy. The Federal government, with negligible experience in planning and operating urban rail systems, has just fallen into line.

NSW Labor's policy in the lead-up to the State Election, has committed to extending the SWRL to the airport site as the first priority, which you'd think would be the logical choice, particularly taking into account the potential explosion in development around the Bringelly and Rossmore regions and the South West Growth Area generally. It would also be the fastest route to the Sydney CBD via the East Hills Line. They should commit further to completing the loop to St Marys as well to allow complete integration with the Sydney Trains' network to the west and south. It could potentially allow for a continuous Cumberland Line loop via the Aerotropolis and airport.