Sydney’s mega underground rail project faces D-Day on expansion
By Matt O'Sullivan and Alexandra Smith
New plans for Sydney’s $25 billion Metro West rail line will go before a powerful NSW cabinet subcommittee on Friday, in the clearest signal that the government is seriously considering expanding the size of the city’s largest transport project.
Days before a wide-ranging review into Metro West is due to be released, the government’s expenditure review committee will on Friday examine plans for the mega project, according to two sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the matter.
Work is well under way on the Metro West rail line between the Sydney CBD and Parramatta.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Aside from reshaping Sydney’s transport network, the rail line between Sydney’s CBD and Parramatta is regarded as a catalyst for the construction of apartment buildings and other higher density dwellings along the city’s east-west spine.
A spokesman for Transport Minister Jo Haylen said on Wednesday that she did not discuss the timing or content of matters before cabinet.
Haylen was also tight-lipped when asked on Monday whether the cabinet subcommittee will discuss the Metro West plans this week.
Chaired by Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, the expenditure review committee comprises Premier Chris Minns and his senior leadership team including Roads Minister John Graham.
Sydney Metro chief executive Peter Regan has said that building more stations along the 24-kilometre underground line will have “time and cost implications”.
Asked whether she was prepared to stomach extra costs and time, Haylen said on Monday that it was why the government had tasked former senior transport bureaucrats Mike Mrdak and Amanda Yeates to review the metro projects.
“That’s why we’re not rushing to these decisions but instead taking a responsible and methodical approach to it because of time implications [and] cost implications,” she said.
“We want value for taxpayers, but we also want to make sure we get it right on the surface.”
Premier Chris Minns and Transport Minister Jo Haylen inspect a new metro train during testing in August.Credit: Nick Moir
The government has repeatedly said that it will publicly release Mrdak’s review into the Metro West project by next Tuesday. The review’s findings are critical to the government’s decisions on reshaping the project by adding extra stations or extending the line.
The mega project is already costing $1.05 billion per kilometre, compared to the $720 million per kilometre to build the Metro City and Southwest line from Chatswood to the CBD, and onto Sydenham and Bankstown.
The expenditure review committee’s consideration of the new plans for Metro West comes a month after the Minns government retained $13.7 billion in the budget for the project over the next four years. That equates to more than half of the $25.3 billion cost of the project which, under the previous government’s plans, comprises nine stations.
Amid a housing crisis, Premier Chris Minns has previously emphasised his desire to get “maximum impact” out of the Metro West line while noting the lack of stations in the previous government’s plans.
However, experts have warned that the cost of building extra stations and altering its alignment would add billions of dollars to the project’s price tag.
The industrial suburb of Camellia, near Parramatta, and the inner-city suburb of Zetland have been repeatedly cited as potential sites for extra stations for Metro West. Silverwater and Newington are two other potential sites for stations.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.