Sydney Borough will be home to 63,000 people, but public transport has not been able to keep up with the development boom
“The City has been working with the NSW Government on short-term public transport, footpaths and…
Improvements in cycling… Such improvements do not represent a long-term solution to Green Square’s problems.”
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has called the Zetland tube station “absolutely crucial”. She has argued that increasing the population density of Green Square has been the policy of successive state governments since 1996, but each has been slow to meet its infrastructure responsibilities.
The council projects Green Square will be home to 63,000 people by 2036.Credit: Walter Peeters
A railway station in Zetland was included in plans for the Metro West rail line between the city and Westmead until 2019, when the suburb was suddenly abandoned. The cost of building a train station in the suburb has been estimated at $375 million.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the Sydney Metro is “a transformational project, but not without its challenges”. Labor announced a major review of Sydney’s underground projects in April.
“From the information I have received so far, the cost of the Sydney Metro West is estimated to be in excess of $25 billion. That’s $12 billion more than the previous Liberal government initially announced.
Loading
“Our Metro review was tasked with making recommendations to get the most benefit from the project, including where future stations and lines might be added,” Haylen said.
For more than a decade, the council urged the former coalition government to commit to a light rail line from the CBD to Green Square and has spent $40 million buying land to preserve the corridor from Central Station.
The strategy envisages that the corridor could be used for a light rail line linking Green Square town center and its train station with a future Zetland metro station and then heading towards the city centre.
“The City will continue to lobby the New South Wales Government for the light rail system between the city centre
and Green Square.”
Loading
Haylen said the government this week focused on improving public transport links in western Sydney, including the delivery of the second stage of the Parramatta light rail.
Another “immediate” priority was a dedicated zero-emission bus service for the area, which the City Council said could be built on an existing route between Green Square and the city via Oxford Street.
The city council defined the expansion of the light rail network along inner-city Broadway as the top priority, which it wants to convert into a “green gateway”, lined with trees and cycle paths, to the CBD.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Login here.
