While much of Sydney’s central business district has been reimagined and reconstructed as a modern 21st century metropolis,the area around Central Station has missed the waves of development of the past five decades.
Behind the Edwardian-era sandstone pile of the terminus building,ugly rail yards extend to Redfern,creating a wasteland that splits the south of the CBD in two.
There is now hope for change in the form of an ambitious proposal by the NSW government which promises,at least partially,to heal this open wound in the city’s body.
Transport for NSW last August released a plan for the 24-hectare site which will cover regional and intercity train lines running south from the terminus building and place on top of them a new precinct in what is now the no-man’s land between Surry Hills and Chippendale. Suburban lines will remain uncovered but spanned by three bridges.
TheHerald supports the redevelopment of the area but building massive office and apartment buildings over functioning rail lines is technically daunting and fraught with risks.
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Central Station is one of the key nodes in the state’s transport network and any major disruption could be far worse than other recent mega-projects such as WestConnex and the new metro lines.
Indeed,the enormous estimated cost of $11 billion could easily threaten the plan before it has begun. In order to recoup the huge investment,Transport for NSW’s design involves building skyscrapers as high as 34-storeys in a tight grid of narrow streets.
Rather than transform the city,some are warning that the design could just produce a windy,concrete dystopia where no one wants to go.
The City of Sydney in its response to the plan this week warned that the current design just “replicates the obvious mistakes of Barangaroo South”.