After unveiling plans to to make way for a “mini-city” and an extra Metro West station,the government has left open the possibility of building a second station on the seven-kilometre stretch from Parramatta to Olympic Park.
The Australian Turf Club owns Rosehill Racecourse near Parramatta.Rhett Wyman
Silverwater has been repeatedly cited as the most likely location for a second stop,although Premier Chris Minns said Metro West was not contingent on the construction of a station there,noting that “there are concerns about that site”.
“We’ll keep an eye,an open mind about whether there are other locations,but obviously,we have to take into consideration costs and the potential uplift for new residences and new houses,” he said.
The plans for an extra station at Rosehill means the inner-city suburb of,which was frequently cited as a likely stop,has missed out.
Asked whether it was a missed opportunity not to extend Metro West to Zetland,Minns said he had to be “really realistic” about the amount of capital and debt the government had on hand to finance public transport.
Premier Chris Minns and Transport Minister Jo Haylen at Rosehill Racecourse on Thursday.Dion Georgopoulos
The cost of extending the underground line to Zetland and building a station there has been put at up to $6 billion.
City of Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore said the decision not to extend the line to Zetland was “deeply disappointing and short-sighted in the extreme”.
“Even as costs increase,the NSW government must not walk away from Metro West to Zetland – it’s too important to drop,” she said.
Moore said a station at Zetland was essential because the wider Green Square precinct was part of what would become home to 63,000 residents by 2036.
A final review into Sydney’s metro rail projects has also urged the government to provide certainty on future extensions of the lines “as a priority” before construction workers start shifting to projects in other sectors from about 2026. It has recommended a “clear forward pipeline” of staged metro projects be developed and progressed.
A new station at Rosehill will cost more than $500 million,pushing the price tag of Metro West to about $26 billion. Minns described it as an “easy financial decision” to make given that it meant Sydney would get an extra 25,000 homes built on the racecourse site.
However,the plans to add at least one extra station will delay the opening of the 24-kilometre line by two years to 2032. Minns said that “roughly speaking”,a train trip from Rosehill to the Sydney CBD would take about 17 minutes.
Rosehill Racecourse is owned by the Australian Turf Club,which will redevelop the site and use an expected $5 billion raised from the project to finance major upgrades to its venues elsewhere.
Rosehill Racecourse is close to the Parramatta CBD.Rhett Wyman
Turf Club chairman Peter McGauran said it was the potential for a station that had triggered its unsolicited proposal to the government to redevelop the racecourse.
“It wouldn’t be worth our while to develop Rosehill Gardens for housing without a Metro West station. It’s the installation of that station that has catapulted the value of the land to such high levels,” he said.
Expressing confidence that the deal will become a reality,Minns said the Rosehill site was one of the last large parcels of land that was uncontaminated from industrial waste due its history as a racecourse for more than 100 years.
Parramatta Lord Mayor Pierre Esber said he was happy that Rosehill was “locked and loaded” for a Metro West stop,but he doubted that a station would be built at Silverwater in the short term.
Business Western Sydney executive director David Borger said a station at Silverwater would lead to a greater increase in housing than Newington,which would be hard to develop because it had many small property owners.
“In Silverwater you’ve got a large industrial estate where there are a few owners that own very large parcels,which means it would be easier to develop,” he said.
Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue chairman Christopher Brown said Silverwater made sense because it was on the Metro West line’s existing alignment and would cost less.
Under the previous government’s plans for nine stations,Metro West was costing $1.05 billion per kilometre,compared to the $720 million per kilometre to build the from Chatswood to the CBD,and on to Sydenham and Bankstown.
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