[CityRail] Skytrain cherry on top of North West Rail Link (12/12/2011)

Skytrain cherry on top of North West Rail Link
Jacob Saulwick
December 12, 2011 - 1:37PM

A four-kilometre elevated "Skytrain" will be built between Bella Vista and Rouse
Hill as part of the O'Farrell government's signature transport project, the
North West Rail Link.

The government announced today it would lodge planning documents for the train
line, which is set to cost about $8.5 billion and will take much of the decade
to build.

The documents include plans for eight stations along the line, two more than
planned for earlier in the year, and an extra 1000 commuter car parks.
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The Premier, Barry O'Farrell, and Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian,
announced the latest scope of the project at a press conference in the
north-west suburb of The Ponds this morning.

"The North West Rail Link is the biggest transport infrastructure project in
this state since the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge," Mr O'Farrell
said.

The north-west line will extend in a 15-kilometre tunnel from Epping to Bella
Vista. The rail line will then emerge above ground and on to elevated tracks.

Ms Berejiklian said the Skytrain would give passengers a better journey, as they
would spend less time underground. Because it was elevated, it would also
minimise disruption to the road network during construction.

Once the line was built, commuters travelling between Rouse Hill and the city
would save 20 minutes on their daily return journey, the government said.

The travel time savings would be even greater for commuters travelling between
the north-west suburbs and Macquarie Park. A commuter travelling between
Cherrybrook and Macquarie Park would save 52 minutes a day, on the government's
figures.

The Herald reported this morning that Mr O'Farrell and Ms Berejiklian had
rejected a proposal to build only half the north-west line as a rail link, and
the rest using light rail.

Ms Berejiklian said the line would cut the number of buses entering the city
from the M2 by 66 per cent.

"This is the equivalent of removing a 2.5 kilometre long queue of M2 buses from
the centre of Sydney thanks to the North West Rail Link," she said.

The government has promised to start tunnelling by 2014. Once tunnelling starts,
the line is expected to take about five years to build.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• railcorp
• cityrail
• nsw
• sydney
• New South Wales
• NSW
• Australia
• Train

[doctornickau]

yeah it was an error in uploading them as i uploaded a few videos at once, its fixed now thanks for letting me know

[EastwoodBirds]

Well all I say is i'll believe it when I see it!

[brendanraymond]

Ah cityfail... oh how I dont miss you. Transport here in Japan is bloody great... too bad you're all talk - no action... as always