Nemetro

Attachment 6: Long Term and High Speed Rail Options

x x

High cost (due to the underwater tunnel) Deep station under North Sydney and steep gradients to get from below the harbour up to North Sydney and St Leonards.

An alternative option is to utilise the eastern lanes of the Harbour Bridge as described in Attachment 5. This proposal combines the best alignment for heavy rail with a good alignment for metros (with easy link to a Warringah metro). It also avoids the high cost of the tunnel under Sydney Harbour, places the new North Sydney station much closer to the surface, and avoids the steep gradients of the MREP scheme. The removal of the two eastern lanes of the Harbour Bridge involves the loss of one bus lane as well as one car traffic lane (of the 11 lanes currently available including the harbour tunnel). The bus lane will no longer be needed once the metro network is built on the north side of the harbour, as the three main bus streams feeding the bus lane (from Warringah peninsula and Mosman via Military Road, NW sector via Gore Hill Freeway, and N Sydney via Pacific Highway) will all have excellent metro services which will take the bulk of longer distance travellers, leaving a significantly reduced local bus service. However there would be a transitional problem after the loss of lanes and before completion of the metros (or at least part of the metro network). During this period it may be necessary to retain the southbound bus-lane and hence remove two general car traffic lanes. The reduction in car capacity might be considered a problem. However the ultimate loss of capacity is only 9%, or the equivalent of about 2,500 passengers per hour. To this would be the loss of around 13,000 passengers per hour on the southbound busway. By comparison the proposed metro and heavy rail lines will have a combined capacity of around 54,000 passengers per hour southbound, compared with the current utilisation of the heavy rail of around 15,000 passengers per hour. Hence the net effect is a substantial increase in total capacity over the Bridge in the AM peak hour. The key will be to create a mode shift from car to public transport. However given the very significant improvement in both heavy rail and metro service proposed, this is not considered a significant obstacle. It is worth remembering in this context that when the Harbour Bridge was first opened there were four lanes used for public transport (two for trams, two for trains) leaving only 6 general purpose car lanes.

S4

CBD – Warringah Peninsula

This corridor is one of Sydney’s busiest bus corridors, and has been investigated at various times. Several potential alignments for heavy rail have been considered, and other options such as metros, automated metros (the VAL system) and Ultra Light Rail (the Bishop system) have all been considered. Along the inner part of the corridor there are very high levels of traffic congestion. Military Road is one of Sydney’s slowest moving roads. The existing bus system has reached its limit (5000 passengers per hour) as there is no further capacity for bus loading and unloading at the Wynyard terminal. Queues of buses waiting to unload passengers often stretch half way across the Harbour Bridge in the morning peak hour, a situation that has been exacerbated by the volume of buses from the North West now using Wynyard

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Attachment 6: Long Term and High Speed Rail Options

The geography of the route is also challenging. The Spit provides a major obstacle, while further north there are also significant difficulties in finding surface alignments. While the relative isolation and inaccessibility of the peninsula has in some way been part of its charm and has encouraged an unusually high level of self containment, there is also considerable pressure both to improve access to the peninsula, and at the same time to reduce the impact of traffic and buses through Mosman. Any public transport solution for the corridor needs to have a significantly higher capacity, speed and quality than the current bus system, with the ability to encourage a mode shift from cars. This means it also needs to conveniently serve other destinations besides the CBD, for example Chatswood and the Macquarie area. However any system which does not serve the CBD fairly directly would miss the main market and also not provide for accessibility enhancements for the inner part of the corridor. For these reasons it is considered that the logical solution in this corridor is a metro, with capacity in the realm of 10,000 passengers per hour, relatively high speed (given the corridor length) and with good connections to North Sydney (and hence back to Chatswood etc) as well as the CBD. This suggests the logical route branches off at North Sydney, travels underground under Military Road, across the Spit and continuing north as far as Dee Why, mostly underground (tunnel or cut and cover). The Spit crossing could either be via a high level bridge (combined with a new road bridge enabling the existing bridge to be removed), or a tunnel. Both options have their challenges. Bridge technology is evolving all the time and well designed high level bridges in other parts of the world are recognised at works of great beauty. Noise mitigation techniques have alo evolved and would definitely be required. A tunnel may be more acceptable to the local community but would be more expensive and the resulting grades may limit the technology options as well as cause the stations on either side to be deep underground, depending on their location and the depth required to tunnel under the Spit. Potential station locations include Dee Why, Wingala, Brookvale, Manly Vale, Balgowlah / Seaforth, Spit Junction, Cremorne Junction, Neutral Bay Junction, and North Sydney Oval before linking with the proposed metro system just west of the existing North Sydney Station. The tunnel from North Sydney to Manly Vale would be entirely through sandstone. The depth could vary, but would need to be relatively close to the surface at stations. To maximise patronage of the system and the ability to reduce car-based traffic, various complementary measures would be needed as outline below. All the stations on the metro would need to become the hubs of local cycle and local mini-bus routes, with space for cycle storage and easy transfer from metro to bus or taxi. In addition, longer distance bus routes would be integrated with the metro a t key points to enable easy transfer of passengers, eg at Dee Why, Manly Vale, Spit Junction, Cremorne Junction, North Sydney Oval etc.

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Attachment 6: Long Term and High Speed Rail Options

Park-and-ride capacity should be provided at selected stations where there is easy road access and relatively cheap land. This should be taken into account in the siting of some stations. In the inner sections where land costs are high, there is likely to be no alternative to underground parking. At Spit Junction for example where the station will need to be deep, three or four levels of underground parking could be provided between the concourse level immediately below the road, and above the station. The car park could be a strip under Spit and Military roads the length of the metro station. At North Sydney Oval a park-and-ride facility could be built under St Leonards Park In order to keep the service competitive with private car travel, the frequency would need to be no worse than every eight minutes through the operating period. With driverless trains and train length adapted to the time of day, this could be achieved without imposing a cost burden or compromising energy efficiency. In fact typical frequency would be expected to be every 5-6 minutes throughout the day (see later discussion of the complete metro network). A further measure that could and should be taken would be to reduce the capacity of Spit and Military Rd to two lanes of traffic in each direction with parking on one side and the remaining space occupied by a two cycling lanes. Having safe cycling lanes along the ridge would encourage children and less-fit adults to using bikes as there would be no hills. Some buses would still need to use Spit and Military Roads in particular the 143/144 service from Manly to Chatswood, and an all stops service from Wynyard to Warringah Mall. Northern beaches buses would all originate/terminate at Warringah Mall However the volume of buses along Military Road would only be a fraction of that operating currently. Road freight would still need to use the corridor, but a road tunnel from Roseville Bridge to the freeway would reduce its volume. There may be a need to a congestion charge for use of military road to ensure there were financial incentives to use Roseville Bridge. Property values along the route would be enhanced both because of the reduced traffic and improved public transport. There would be considerable potential for beautifying the shopping and restaurant precincts along Military Road It would be possible to build the line in two stages, for example with the first stage from North Sydney to Spit Junction, with a temporary distributed bus interchange system with different northern beaches route numbers terminating at one of Spit Junction, Cremorne Junction or Neutral Bay Junction. This would avoid the need for any major bus interchange on the surface, which would be difficult to provide given space limitations. After completion of the first stage of the metro to Spit Junction, and prior to completion if the second stage to Dee Why, long distance buses from the peninsula would continue to operate along Military Road, dropping their passengers off at one of the three stations, then return via the loop road near Merlin Street (just east of Warringah Freeway).

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Attachment 6: Long Term and High Speed Rail Options

There would thus be substantial bus operating cost savings even from Stage 1, since buses would save significant time getting into and out of the CBD. When the metro stage 2 to Dee Why was completed, the savings would be very significant. This will allow major upgrades to cross regional bus services for the Warringah peninsula, both on local feeder services and on major high frequency trunk routes, such as through Frenchs Forest from Dee Why to Chatswood, and from Mona Vale to Gordon and beyond (see discussion of corridor (f). Local Government LEP’s should immediately be adjusted in anticipation of the implementation of the metro with any provision for further expansion of population in the region concentrated in developments around the proposed metro stations. Local road, bicycle and pedestrian routes should also be reorientated to focus on these stations.

S5

CBD – Anzac Parade

This option has been mooted for a metro which makes general sense given its relatively high passenger volumes, key attractors (UNSW, Moore Park sporting facilities) and potential for further development along Anzac Parade. Early routes indicated utilising a short piece of unused tunnel under Hyde Park, thence under Oxford Street to Taylor Square and on via Moore Park. An alternative alignment would be from the proposed metro station on the west side of Central station south under Prince Alfred Park (under the Airport Line) then under Cleveland Street and under the Eastern Distributor to Moore Park, then south under Anzac Parade. This would allow a station between Bourke Street and Crown Street, with interchange to buses in Cleveland Street and light rail in Bourke Street. Much of the line south if UNSW could be constructed via cut and cover with cross streets replaced and potentially with a cycleway built over the top of the metro line. Stations could be expected to be located at 1 – 1.5km intervals beyond UNSW given the density of development there, but the line is only of medium length and very superior travel times compared with buses and even cars could be expected, indicating a potential significant mode shift. Integrated TOD development above stations would be part of the proposal. While some through buses would continue into the city serving slightly different corridors (eg via Taylor Square) bus routes would in general be used to provide cross-regional and feeder functions, with benefits for public transport access generally. There would also be a few selected stations where carbased park and ride would be possible, such as at Moore Park where such a facility could double on weekends as parking for sporting matches. The benefit of the proposed route is that it simultaneously serves the SE Suburbs to CBD commuter market as well as catering for the substantial reverse flows to UNSW on weekdays, and also the reverse flow from Central Station to the Cricket Ground and Football stadia for major sporting events. The proposed interchange at Central makes this extremely efficient.

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Attachment 6: Long Term and High Speed Rail Options

The line would also interface with several proposed light rail lines including that from Randwick Junction to Little Bay, the Coogee line, and the Rosebery – F6 line, as well as Ring Route 1 and Ring Route 2 Strategic Bus corridors - these will extend the metro catchment and provide for cross-regional links within the eastern suburbs and the inner west.

S6

CBD – Inner West

This “corridor” is actually a series of corridors mainly served by a large number of individual bus routes, many of which converge on Parramatta Road at various points. The proposed Parramatta Road metro would have a station at University of Sydney / Glebe in the vicinity of the Glebe Point Road / Parramatta Road Intersection, and further stops in the vicinity of Parramatta Road / Norton Street intersection, and in the vicinity of Five Dock. In between these points, buses could continue to provide for local distribution. It is envisaged that significant numbers of bus-based passengers would transfer to the metro at one or other of these stops, reducing the volume of buses travelling into the city. The existing light rail line also serves part of the travel needs of the inner west. The light rail line however is not achieving its potential for three reasons: x x x

It lacks branches beyond Lilyfield It has a convoluted route around Pyrmont en route to the CBD It only serves the southern part of the CBD and fails to tap the main market in the central part of the city

It is proposed to enhance the functionality of the light rail line in three stages: x

x

x

Initially to extend it to the inner west on two routes. The first would extend to Dulwich Hill Station via the goods line, serving parts of Leichhardt, Lewisham, Dulwich Hill, Summer Hill, Hurlstone Park and Marrickville. This would be integrated with the “Greenway” project. This would interchange with the main Western line at Lewisham (some pedestrian links would be required), bus routes along Canterbury Road, and the Bankstown line at Marrickville. A second extension could run through Haberfield via Waratah Street to Five Dock, and potentially to Abbotsford via North Road and to Canada Bay and Burwood. It could interchange with the proposed West Metro at Five Dock / Canada Bay, and the main western line at Burwood Station Secondly to provide a more direct link to the CBD via a short tunnel under Pyrmont peninsula between Wentworth Park and Exhibition Centre stops. This would be integrated with a further extension to Glebe island, Rozelle and Drummoyne (see later discussion) Thirdly to provide a direct link into the core of the CBD from Hay Street preferably using Castlereagh/Pitt streets (or alternatively George Street), as examined in detail in numerous reports.

The precise staging of these various extensions would need further examination. However there is considerable scope for a light rail network serving many suburbs in

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