Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Melbourne style cheaper tickets plan
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Revesby Quadruplication set to start
Friday, June 20, 2008
Route X18 to become prepay
Eastern suburbs bus route changes
- The 303 will change from a City- Sans Souci service to become a Bondi Junction- Sans Souci route.
- The X03 will be cancelled
- a new route 341 will operate between Kingsford and the Sydney CBD via Todman Avenue and O'Dea Avenue, replacing Routes 302 and 303.
- a new route 342 will operate between Kingsford and the Sydney CBD via Lenthall Street, Epsom Road and Joynton Avenue, essentially an altered Route 302.The new route is response to growing demand from new major residential development in the Green Square/ Victoria Park area.
- route X43 services will be converted to 'all stops' Route 343 and 344 services
- new routes 344 and 343 will operate from Eastgardens to Circular Quay, (theRoute 343 via Rothschild Avenue), then to Elizabeth Street and the Sydney CBD. This essentially replaces Route 301
- existing route 341 is to be renumbered as Route 346 between Kingsford and Avoca Street.
- existing Route 342 between Kingsford and Daceyville is to be renumbered as Route 347
- route 311 will be altered to run from Gresham Street, Sydney to St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst, and will no longer continue to Railway Square. In Elizabeth Bay the loop via Billyard Avenue will be discontinued.
- part of Route 357 is to be redirected via Stanley and King Streets, and Alison Road, Randwick
- route 359 is to be withdrawn and replaced with a school peak service only. (Routes 357 and 400 are to be used instead).
Bendy bus brake problems
From the Sydney Morning Herald:
THE brakes on 80 new Volvo buses have been failing randomly for short bursts in a string of incidents that have injured passengers and placed the public at risk, according to scores of driver reports seen by the Herald.
Drivers warned State Transit Authority management as early as last September that the brakes were not slowing the buses properly before suddenly locking up.
But the buses, each worth $650,000, have continued to ply routes along the northern beaches, in the eastern suburbs and along Victoria Road. The drivers are demanding the buses be withdrawn from service.
A revenue protection officer was knocked to the floor of a Volvo bus that abruptly locked up last week. At least two passengers have been injured in similar incidents.
"As I came into the stop on Elizabeth Street, I braked as normal and nothing happened and I could not stop for another 60 metres past the stop. This is the most frightening brake incident I have had so far," a driver reported on April 4.
Volvo and the State Transit Authority say the buses are safe and blame drivers for not adapting to them. But the buses have been in service for 18 months, and complaints have intensified.
Three months ago, a depot manager listed several incidents, including: "A bendy bus sailing through a pedestrian crossing with pedestrian activity, another bendy bus attempting to stop in a bus zone that would have rear-ended another bus if there had have been one [there], an alarming report of passengers falling over when the emergency brakes were activated by the bus, not the driver, and another incident where a bendy bus rear-ended a car."
The reports all describe the brakes failing to react under normal foot pressure. The driver is then forced to slam on the brakes, bringing the bus to a sudden, jerky stop, and sometimes throwing passengers off their feet. The transit authority is believed to have a number of video recordings of the incidents.
Another driver complained directly to the authority's new chief executive, Peter Rowley, last week, bringing the number of written complaints to more than 70. "I was travelling at 40kmh and estimate that the bus travelled 20-30 metres without any response from the braking system," he wrote.
"Had this occurred during the afternoon on a school day, the 20-30 metres without braking response could mean the difference between stopping before a school crossing or on top of some school children."
The authority and Volvo have agreed to a trial of new software for the brakes. But the Rail, Tram and Bus Union took the authority to court this week over the matter, claiming the trial, originally scheduled for 90 days, was too long, and that passengers' lives were being put at risk."This is very dangerous because of the potential for collisions due to a miscalculation of the braking distance required … [we] believe that the continued use of these buses is placing the life of passengers and members of the public in danger," the union wrote.
Drivers are expected to vote on whether they should abandon the buses until the braking system on all 80 vehicles is replaced, which would devastate public transport during next month's World Youth Day.
Mr Rowley told the Herald yesterday that all the Volvo buses were "safe and in completely operable condition and fully comply with [Roads and Traffic Authority] regulations".
He said he was aware of the reports dating back to last year, but that numerous tests - including a 53-day trial - had been unable to replicate the problem.
Late yesterday, the transit authority agreed to a union request to shorten the trial to 45 days.
(Linton Besser, 20 June 2008)
The State Transit fleet consists of 80 - Volvo B12BLE Articulated Custom Coaches buses, used on the 333 route between the city and Bondi Beach, amongst other routes.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Macquarie Park rail links don't add up
A GOVERNMENT plan to make Macquarie Park the fourth-largest CBD in Australia, behind Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, may be undermined by the NSW cabinet's decision to dump the North West Rail Link.
Billions of dollars are being spent in turning the growing area into Australia's answer to Silicon Valley, with technology businesses setting up next door to an expanding Macquarie University.
The key to the corridor's development is the Epping to Chatswood Rail Line, which will offer 30-minute train journeys into the Sydney CBD.
But only four trains an hour will service the $2.3 billion train line in the foreseeable future because the Government dumped its promised CityRail extension to Rouse Hill, converting it into an independent metro line.
A masterplan for the area just released by Ryde City Council shows it had expected to shift 40 per cent of local journeys on to public transport.
"The Epping to Chatswood Rail Line, which will have two stations within Macquarie Park … will have the capacity to carry some 23,400 commuters in the one hour peak (subject to the completion of the North West Rail Link from Epping to Rouse Hill and the CBD Rail Link from Chatswood to Epping)," the document reads.
But now there will only be enough trains to transport a combined 8000 commuters in both directions in the one-hour peak.
It could be a particularly pressing problem for the Transport Minister, John Watkins, because the business and technology area is within his own electorate of Ryde.
Yesterday he told the Herald that more trains would be added as needed.
While there is capacity for up to 20 trains an hour through Macquarie Park, there is insufficient room on the network to send more than four trains an hour down the new line from Hornsby.
Under the Government's former rail plan the extra trains would have come from Rouse Hill via the North West Rail Link, boosting the number of trains to as many as 16 an hour.
Since 2002, Ryde council has been planning for growth because the State Government had placed Macquarie Park at the heart of its employment strategy.
"If the anticipated growth in Macquarie Park is achieved, it will become the fourth-largest business district in Australia by the mid-21st century, larger than the CBDs of Adelaide or Perth," the masterplan reads.
Macquarie University is also pressing ahead with a large-scale campus expansion.
"The rail mode is expected to attract between 21 and 23 per cent of the trips depending on the time of day," says the university's concept plan.
"There will be up to eight trains an hour servicing the stations in the Macquarie Park area. This has the potential to be increased further if the North West Rail Link from Epping to Castle Hill and Rouse Hill is constructed.
"This link will increase the service frequency at Macquarie Park stations by running trains direct from Rouse Hill to Sydney CBD via Macquarie Park."
Optus has moved 6000 of its 10,000-strong national workforce to the suburb, with plans for 40 per cent of its employees to travel by public transport.
This equates to almost 2500 people, most of whom will be travelling in the morning peak. If just half of these people switch to the train when the line opens next year, it could soak up 25 per cent of the line's citybound capacity.
Mr Watkins said extra services would be added as required.
-Linton Besser Transport Reporter
Friday, June 13, 2008
Bloated rail network needs job cuts: report
SYDNEY'S train stations should be largely unstaffed, train guards abolished and staff productivity radically boosted to bring CityRail into line with international best practice, says a report being released today.
A review of the troubled rail service has identified almost half a billion dollars in cuts that can be made to CityRail that would not affect customer service.
Train crews, maintenance yards and stations are all grossly overstaffed, says a new report by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal.
The tribunal has recommended the abolition of train guards and the slashing of more than 520 personnel who staff stations that cater to fewer than 2000 passengers a day.
But while worker productivity has been put under the microscope so too has management's performance.
RailCorp is top-heavy, the tribunal found, with 90 head office managers to every 1000 employees - 80 more than organisations of a similar size in Britain.
A cost review by LEK Consulting identified about 300 head office jobs that could be abolished as part of the staff cuts.
"A like-for-like comparison against comparable Australian and international operators has indicated that CityRail operating at benchmark would result in operating costs approximately 23 per cent (about $610 million) lower than projected in 2011-12," the review says.
But the tribunal decided such a radical cut was impossible in the near term. Instead it recommended an 18.4 per cent saving, or $480 million per year by 2011.
The Government's decision to retain all train guards and staff at poorly frequented stations will cost RailCorp about $160 million a year in four years, LEK found.
"[But] about $450 million [in potential savings] cannot be explained by these policy choices and are primarily to be found in overall station staffing, rolling stock maintenance as well as overheads."
The radical efficiency savings would require, however, some capital investment. More than $800 million would be needed over four years to install credit card and eftpos ticket machines at unmanned stations, closed-circuit television cameras to monitor passengers alighting at platforms and a $375 million refurbishment program for the ageing fleet of Tangara trains.
But there were other bloated parts that LEK exposed. The report claims that 42 per cent of costs in the running of train crews can be slashed."CityRail drivers spend only 35 per cent of their on-shift time driving scheduled services," it says.
Stuffed: CityRail's timetable woe
From SMH, 7 June:
CITYRAIL'S timetable is at risk of collapse under the weight of the millions of new passengers using the network, as trains are becoming so overloaded they cannot leave stations on time.
Data released by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal show 10 of CityRail's 13 lines experience maximum volumes of more than 135 per cent of seating capacity.
In the morning peak three of every 10 trains arrive in the city so packed with passengers they eclipse CityRail's official measure of overcrowding.
"There is no reason to believe the survey results are atypical," the tribunal says in a four-volume report released yesterday.
The pricing regulator has warned that the billions of dollars the State Government is pouring into the rail network are still not enough to meet soaring demand and the Government's own targets.
The tribunal warns in the report that more capacity will be necessary to "meet forecast growth in demand, reduce congestion to meet service quality requirements and meet targets in the State Plan".
In January cabinet ditched a plan to build another rail line through the city and across the harbour, but the tribunal yesterday described the city centre as an "infrastructure bottleneck" that "restricts the number of services that can be offered without significant capacity expansion".
"The likely growth in peak demand means that meeting the Government's objective of improving the quality and reliability of these services will be a major challenge."
Trains are becoming so full they cannot load and unload passengers fast enough at larger stations to stick to their timetables, even though the network timetable was drastically adjusted in 2005 to slow trains down.
"While crowding at stations represents a reduction in service quality for passengers on its own, it also increases the time it takes to load and unload a train," the report says.
"This longer dwell time in the city stations has a cascading effect on on-time running, as each train behind needs to wait for the train in front to move. Typically, this lost time is not made up, so by the time they reach the end of their journey, these trains are running behind the timetable."
The pricing tribunal has also recommended that fares be changed. Its "preliminary view" is that the discount on weekly tickets should be more consistent and cost be based on distance across the network.
"IPART considers that this approach [is] best … because it is more cost-reflective, and is simpler and more consistent. This approach will also be compatible with an electronic ticketing system, expected to be introduced in the future."
The result, however, is that long-distance commuters could face much bigger fare rises than those living in the inner city.
"IPART is mindful of any adverse social impacts of moving towards an improved fare structure," the report says.
"However, IPART considers that any adverse social impacts of its fare decisions in the longer term should be addressed through targeted government assistance rather than incorporating further subsidies into fares and potentially distorting the fare structure."
This fare structure has been widely blamed for the failure of attempts to install an integrated transport smartcard for Sydney's public transport network.
Fares recommended to rise
TRAIN fares should rise by up to 30 per cent in just four years and almost 1700 rail jobs should be axed, says a review of CityRail services by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal.
A year-long investigation by the pricing regulator has identified cuts of about $480 million a year that must be made to CityRail's bulging bureaucracy.
The regulator has found that the State Government should abolish all 1176 train guards on CityRail services, and eliminate station staff from 204 of 305 stations, replacing them with ticket machines.
This would slash 521 jobs and save $30 million a year.
The recommendations come amid hostile relations between the Government and the unions and as the Premier, Morris Iemma, and the Treasurer, Michael Costa, push ahead with a pro-privatisation agenda.
The pricing review, the first of its kind, recommends huge efficiency improvements to bring CityRail up to the standards of rail services in Melbourne, Brisbane and overseas.
It argues that fares must rise steeply to address a fall in takings that has reached crisis point because of a decision by the former premier, Bob Carr, to freeze fares for three years to compensate for late-running trains.
The proportion of revenue from fares has fallen so much that the regulator has recommended CityRail write down its assets from $11.3 billion to $1.4 billion, for the purpose of setting fares.
It recommends that fares rise by 20 to 30 per cent in real terms over the next four years.
In 2007, train fares rose about 4.1 per cent. A 30 per cent fare increase over four years would take the price of a weekly ticket from Parramatta to Central from $34 to $44.20. A single ticket from Woy Woy to the city would rise from $8.60 to $11.18.
The regulator has reasoned that large-scale fare increases cannot be justified without radical cuts to the CityRail bureaucracy. But the review also points to the need to reform the structure of fares, and long-distance commuters would pay substantially more for their tickets under its preferred model - a flag-fall and a distance-based fare.
The Government consistently baulked at such essential reform during its disastrous six-year foray into integrated ticketing with the failed Tcard project.
The pricing review finds the performance of maintenance and train crews compared woefully to other cities interstate and around the world. Train crews spent only 35 per cent of their day driving trains on scheduled services, while Sydney's rolling stock cost more to run but was vastly more unreliable than that of other networks.
About 300 managers should also be axed, the report finds, with back-office overheads and marketing making up a substantial portion of the fat that must be cut from the organisation.
The regulator suggests the Government adopt a new "rule of thumb" where passengers pay 30 cents in every dollar spent on improvements to CityRail - the Epping to Chatswood rail link is set to cost $2.3 billion, so passengers could expect to shoulder $690 million of fare increases.
The regulator will take submissions, with a final report and recommendations to the Government due in November.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Town Hall on track to burst at the seams
Town Hall on track to burst at the seams
PEAK-HOUR congestion at Town Hall station is heading for crisis point as the State Government shifts funding priorities to the north-west underground metro.
The overcrowded station has failed to meet safety standards since 2001 and still lacks fire escape stairs. Each day 150,000 people use the station and this figure is predicted to exceed 168,000 by 2016.
Last week the Government admitted a huge surge of peak-period passengers was beginning to affect CityRail's performance.
The struggle to meet customer demands "is resulting in increased crowding on some lines", the Ministry of Transport wrote to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal.
"Crowding is the key area of CityRail's performance that, for an increasing number of passengers, is not being met."
The huge number of people changing trains at Town Hall makes the overcrowding worse.
Plans to upgrade the station were deferred when the Government announced it would build a second cross-city rail line with a station on Pitt Street.
A 2005 RailCorp document says that "for planning purposes, all future growth on Town Hall Station beyond 2021 will be absorbed by the new Metro Pitt station". But that plan was ditched in March, when the Premier, Morris Iemma, announced the $12 billion North West Metro and scotched plans to expand CityRail in the city.
Peter Moore, executive director of the International Association of Public Transport, said an upgrade was needed immediately. "It is very urgent," Mr Moore told the Herald. "It should have happened yesterday."
A RailCorp spokesman, Paul Rea, said the operator was analysing the impact on long-term Town Hall patronage of the metros and the decision not to proceed with the second cross-city line.
A 2007 RailCorp spending plan put the upgrade cost at $600 million. With the metro now at the centre of policy, the Government is unlikely to fund a capital project of that size.
A Rail Corp study in 2005 said: "In the peaks, Town Hall station generally falls short of acceptable day-to-day crowd management congestion targets."
And on fire safety, the study said that in 2001 "Parsons Brinckerhoff determined that Town Hall cannot currently be fully evacuated in the morning and evening peaks within times stipulated by the Standards for Fixed Guideway Transit and Passenger Rail Systems".
In 2003, RailCorp moved to install fire escape stairs at a cost of $50 million, but management instead began planning a bigger renovation to substantially increase the station's capacity.
By late 2005, the Government was ready to tender for solutions costed at between $171 million and $350 million. In the end, it focused on a huge upgrade of the station's escalators.
No such thing as a new idea
Just so you know that there is no such thing as a new idea, here is a map of Bradfield's proposed railways for Sydney, drawn up in the 1920's with what looks suspiciously like a West Metro between Central and Strathfield.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Town Hall station cops some flack.
It's hell down here, and the devil has a microphone
I heard him before I saw him - a young man with hands on his ears standing still amid the churning, lurching chaos that is platform one at Town Hall station. "Can you please just shut up. Christ. Just shut up."
It turned out I was not the only one being driven mad by the lecturing, hectoring voice on the platform speakers, the latest horror to confront commuters.
Town Hall at peak hour is a dirty, dangerously overcrowded, stifling hot environment that looks and feels like an accident waiting to happen. But now, in what is presumably an effort to give the impression that something is being done, the captive commuters squashed on the platforms are lectured on safety, crowding, and train-travel etiquette by some insufferable Big Brother.
"Can that man sitting on the steps please move," the invisible voice booms.
Then louder. "That man on the steps who is blocking the way. Please move."
Then, infuriated: "You, that man in the brown overcoat, there's no reason to block the steps. You are holding up people who want to use the stairs."
Finally, the tired commuter who has been held up to us all as the cause of our mutual subterranean unhappiness, realises he has been made the scapegoat. The woes of Town Hall station are all his fault. He slinks off to join the other miserable but upright commuters.
It does not stop there. "The all-stations train to Bankstown is now at Circular Quay … the train should be here in about two minutes. So just be patient," the voice booms. We know that. It says so on the board.
"Can passengers please stay behind the yellow line while the train approaches." I would gladly do so if a three-person deep crowd was not exploding behind me.
"Those people crowding the train doors - you are a danger to yourselves as well as to others." No, the real danger here is that nothing has been done to upgrade this station to cater for today's crowds. But on it goes. The voice is relentless, monotonous and narky.
"We all want to get home, and pushing and shoving won't make things happen more quickly."
We don't know what's good for us, is the message, and CityRail is going to make sure we understand. If there was any real concern about overcrowding at Town Hall station, designed in 1916, then new exits would be created. It can take an eternity in peak hour just to get on the escalator from the bowels of the station. A fire down there would be … well, it's not worth thinking about.
If there was any concern about the risk of commuters falling from platforms the station would be redesigned so those waiting were not forced on top of one another. And if there was any thought at all about commuter comfort there would be more than just token seating (I, too, have had to sit on the stairs - when eight months' pregnant) and a real attempt to fix the stifling conditions.
In 2005, when RailCorp announced a multi-million-dollar plan to upgrade Town Hall, the tender package warned that the station was a serious danger to the public. Last month the Herald revealed that a report by Parsons Brinckerhoff found the station "cannot currently be fully evacuated in the morning and evening peaks within times stipulated by [the fire safety standard]".
RailCorp said a widening of the main concourse and ticket barrier expansion had improved access, but the projected commuter growth remained unaccounted for. Within eight years 168,000 people would pass through the station each day, up from about 140,000 now. By 2021 there will be 178,000.
For more than 10 years I have used the station to get to work, but it is only this year that have had to do so in peak hour. In that time I have had trouble breathing in sauna-like conditions; had to tiptoe around pools of blood and been caught on overcrowded trains where people were forced to travel to the next stop while jammed helplessly against the doors. Many times I have thought how easy it would be to fall off the narrow platforms, or to be accidentally pushed off. Just one person losing their footing would do it or - perhaps more likely - just one person losing their mind.
If there was any concern about the risk of commuters falling from platforms the station would be redesigned so those waiting were not forced on top of one another. And if there was any thought at all about commuter comfort there would be more than just token seating (I, too, have had to sit on the stairs - when eight months' pregnant) and a real attempt to fix the stifling conditions.
In 2005, when RailCorp announced a multi-million-dollar plan to upgrade Town Hall, the tender package warned that the station was a serious danger to the public. Last month the Herald revealed that a report by Parsons Brinckerhoff found the station "cannot currently be fully evacuated in the morning and evening peaks within times stipulated by [the fire safety standard]".
RailCorp said a widening of the main concourse and ticket barrier expansion had improved access, but the projected commuter growth remained unaccounted for. Within eight years 168,000 people would pass through the station each day, up from about 140,000 now. By 2021 there will be 178,000.
For more than 10 years I have used the station to get to work, but it is only this year that have had to do so in peak hour. In that time I have had trouble breathing in sauna-like conditions; had to tiptoe around pools of blood and been caught on overcrowded trains where people were forced to travel to the next stop while jammed helplessly against the doors. Many times I have thought how easy it would be to fall off the narrow platforms, or to be accidentally pushed off. Just one person losing their footing would do it or - perhaps more likely - just one person losing their mind.
.
Summarises the situation pretty well. The previously proposed 2nd harbour crossing and the new line between Chatswood and Redfern, with its new station at Park/Pitt St near Town Hall is desperately needed. All of this has now been cancelled and replaced with a metro from the North West to St James via Wynyard, which probably won't do a lot to relieve Town Hall.
Bowral station upgrade
Quakers Hill- Vineyard duplication
West Metro
From SMH:
TWO routes have been unveiled for a metro line to western Sydney - the West Metro project - which the State Government says will be built before any line to the eastern suburbs.
The line will cost up to $10 billion.
The Government said it is seeking federal funding for the line, which is unlikely to be in operation for at least 10 years.
Two routes are being studied for the West Metro: one shadowing Parramatta Road, travelling via Five Dock and Leichhardt to the city, and the other following the existing railway line. Both routes would run via Rosehill, Newington and Olympic Park.
The Premier, Morris Iemma, said the line shadowing Parramatta Road would be the cheaper of the two to build, at between $6 billion and $8 billion. A line following the existing rail network would be $8 billion to $10 billion.
Mr Iemma rejected criticism that a West Metro line built along the existing rail would cannibalise its profitability between Parramatta and the city. He said this option would help speed up services along the rail link, given the strong projected growth in patronage along the route.
Patronage on the western line is growing 6 per cent a year, twice the growth rate of patronage across the network over the past decade. It was this growth, plus population growth trends, which meant the Metro West line would take precedence over a line to the eastern suburbs, Mr Iemma said.
"If you're about improving the capacity of the current rail system and relieving congestion, then the western line … [is] the place that you get bigger bang for your buck in an investment in producing extra capacity," Mr Iemma said. "Extra capacity from Parramatta has flow-on benefits on other lines."
The Roads Minister, Eric Roozendaal, refused to indicate the estimated cost of duplicating the $800 million M5 East, or whether the second tunnel under study would be for exclusive use by trucks. Of the 100,000 vehicles that use the M5 East each day, an estimated 15,000 are trucks, the Government said.
The work on the M5 East duplication, which would extend beyond the existing M5 East to Port Botany, comes as the Government is finalising proposals for the M4 East, for which it is also seeking Federal Government financial support. The M4 East proposal includes an option which could result in a tunnel connecting to the airport and Port Botany.
The Government said it would be in a position to take its detailed assessments of these proposals to the Federal Government in 12 months, if it gained support for the projects, it would take another 18 months of planning before construction would begin, which would take eight to 10 years to complete.
Mr Iemma said the infrastructure fund flagged by the Federal Government "is money to seed these projects", which may still turn to the private sector for partnerships.
"I've already been in discussion with [the federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport] Mr [Anthony] Albanese," Mr Iemma said. "We'll be right in there with our projects, to tackle congestion in Sydney.
"By about the middle of next year, it will be decision time on the dollars to build these things. The important thing is they … contribute."
The State Government said yesterday it would add $20 million to the $25 million the Federal Government has committed to study the Metro West and M5 East duplication projects.
Regarding funding, from SMH:
The State Government wants Federal Government funding for the long-mooted M5 East tunnel, as well as for the proposed West Metro line, which would cost up to $10 billion alone.
Today NSW disclosed details of both projects saying it would help finance a Federal Government feasibility studies on both projects.
The Iemma government said it would contribute $20 million to the $25 million the Federal government has committed to study the Metro West and M5 east duplication projects.
NSW outlined two routes for the West Metro line, the first running along Parramatta Road, via Olympic Park and Leichhardt, to the city, would cost an estimated $6-8 billion.
The second option, for a metro line to run along the route of the existing heavy rail line, would cost $8-10 billion, NSW Premier Morris Iemma said.
NSW Roads Minister Eric Roozendaal refused to indicate the estimated cost of duplicating the M5 East, or whether the second tunnel here would be for exclusive use by trucks.
Of the 100,000 vehicles using the M5 East daily, an estimated 15,000 are trucks, the government said.
The Metro seems to have two alternative routes, with stations atCircular Quay ,Martin Place , Pitt St, Central ,
then either
Sydney Uni , Leichhardt, Five Dock, Canada Bay, N Strathfield, or
Redfern , Newtown, Lewisham , Ashfield , Burwood , Strathfield , then
Olympic Park , Newington , Rosehill and Parramatta.
The article was accompanied by what looks like a Jubilee line train from the LU with 'West Metro' on the destination board.