SMH blows the whistle on 30 years of inaction on Sydney public transport planning

Metro rail plan hits the buffer

[smh] Sydney's long-term public transport planning farce continues...

We're driving to disaster, rail guru warns

[smh] "The state's most respected transport bureaucrat has broken an eight-year silence to condemn the NSW Government's botched handling of Sydney's transport system"

Some interesting insight into the problems with the current Sydney public transport infrastructure that were predicted back in 2001. The need for a second train line under/over the harbour is something that I am now experiencing every day with the near crush loads on the North Shore line during peak hour.

[smh] Train crush load limit set to triple

"OVERCROWDING will become accepted practice on triple the number of CityRail trains under a NSW Government bid to make its performance figures look good.

CityRail aims for no more than 5 per cent of trains to carry a "crush load".

But bureaucrats want to extend that target to 17 per cent after a review revealed 16 per cent of services in 2007-08 ran with such a load - whereby passengers exceed 135 per cent of seating capacity."

[smh] Rail links 'shelved'

"The Rees Government will shelve construction of the south-west rail link in addition to axing the North-West Metro as it grapples with a budget crisis.

To provide the public transport system with additional capacity, the Government plans to buy an additional 300 buses, at a cost of $150 million, and will allocate 100 of them to the north-west of the city.

The first of the new buses is not expected to be delivered until the end of 2009."

Jeez. Early election please. Bring in someone who knows how to balance a budget AND lobby properly for federal infrastructure funding.

It's time to overhaul Sydney's public rail infrastructure

While we're in the mood for federal bailouts and nation building infrastructure projects can I suggest a major capital injection to overhaul the public rail infrastructure and ticketing system in the greater Sydney area?

• Electronic ticketing with online account top-up. Yes please.
• Extending the Eastern Suburbs line through Randwick, Charing Cross, Randwick, Maroubra Junction, and Malabar. Yes please.
• Wi-Fi enabled carriages. Yes please.
• Build a second rail line under Sydney Harbour to reduce congestion on the North Shore lin (and allow Eastern Suburbs passengers to bypass Town Hall station when transferring to the North Shore). Yes please.
• Major expansion of Town Hall station to cater for the ever increasing passenger numbers and overcrowded platforms during morning and afternoon peak. Yes please.
  
• Add two carriages of luggage-friendly dedicated rolling stock to the Airport/East Hills line and install escalators on the Airport/East Hills line platform at Central Station. Yes please.
• Build a decent rail line to service the North Ryde business parks and commuters from the Hills District rather than the ever expanding list of bus routes and toll roads in the north-west. Yes please.

[smh] New east-west line may cut congestion

NSW Govt unveils plans for a metro-style rail line connecting Malabar to West Ryde. Great idea!