More than a year after the locations of eight stations along the Metro West line were announced,Transport Minister Andrew Constance on Friday confirmed approval had been given to a station development at Pyrmont.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian inspects the Martin Place Metro Station.Nick Moir
A value share contribution system will be applied to the Pyrmont Peninsula once the metro line opens,according to the government.
That will require some commercial property owners,other than small businesses,that benefit from the increased land values to make an annual payment to offset the cost of the station.
Mr Constance said modelling predicted Pyrmont station was likely to be one of the busiest on the Metro West line.
"It will become the centre of the community and the western gateway to the Sydney CBD providing not only world-class transport options but opportunities to support new jobs and homes,"Mr Constance said.
The government is expected to announce a Metro station in Pyrmont.SMH
A final strategy to reshape Pyrmont over the next two decades,which includes in parts of the inner-city suburb significantly,was also released on Friday,clearing the way for a 110-metre,six-star hotel tower at Star casino.
The site of the station at Pyrmont has to be close to the casino.
Mr Constance said in July that it “would make sense” to build a station at Pyrmont. The government has made clear it wants to make Pyrmont an extension of Sydney’s central business district.
In comparison,Blackwattle Bay,the site of the new $749 million Sydney Fish Market,is considered too close to a metro station site that the government has committed to at the Bays Precinct near Rozelle.
The Sydney Metro West mega railway project will include an underground station at Westmead,delivering more travel options to greater Western Sydney. Source:NSW government/Sydney Metro
Stations will be among the most expensive components of the rail project,each costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
Draft plans for Pyrmont,released in July,allowed for buildings up to 180 metres on the site of The Star,and almost 170 metres in the area where the Harbourside centre is located.
The 24-kilometre rail line linking Parramatta to the CBD in about 20 minutes is set to open by 2030,including stations at White Bay,Five Dock,Sydney Olympic Park,and Westmead.
Work on Metro West,Australia’s biggest ever transport project,officially began last month,though tunnelling machines are unlikely to be in the ground before 2022.
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In April the government ditched Rydalmere,east of Parramatta,as the site of a new metro station,while this month it again ruled out Camellia as a location.
As the NSW government embarks on another multibillion-dollar infrastructure project,a report by the state’s Auditor-General has found public transport revenue fell by more than 17 per cent in the previous financial year.
The report,released on Thursday,found there were close to 150 million fewer trips taken on public transport,largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ferries were the hardest hit (down 25 per cent),while rail patronage fell by 20 per cent,and buses 17 per cent.
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