Western Express - Leamington Ave Properties

“Design work was urgently undertaken by Transport NSW which has established there is no engineering or design basis for acquiring any of these properties,” he said.

“This work was accelerated to help ease the concerns of local residents.

“The project engineers can now take the time needed to continue their work in preparation for construction of the City Relief Line as part of the Western Express project.

“The Western Express is a critical infrastructure project that will improve public transport for hundreds of thousands of commuters every day.

“It will significantly speed up journey times for passengers travelling to and from Western Sydney, increase capacity for passengers on the Western Line by 5,000 seats an hour and ease congestion for services right across the CityRail network as they enter and leave the Sydney CBD.”

Member for Marrickville Carmel Tebbutt welcomed the decision.

"I know that this has been a concerning time for many residents and I am pleased that the Government has moved swiftly to provide certainty for local residents," said Ms Tebbutt.

Transport NSW will now carry out further alignment investigations for the new underground City Relief Line. This will include design, engineering, survey and geotechnical drilling work in the Eveleigh area.

“I’ve asked Transport NSW to come up with an option that focuses on using publicly owned land at Eveleigh for the dive tunnels as part of the relief line,” Mr Robertson said.

“This detailed design work is likely to take some months.

“Once a preferred alignment has been identified it will be incorporated into a project application and Environmental Assessment for the Western Express Project.”

A Preliminary Environmental Assessment into the project would be placed on public exhibition in mid 2011, with the full Environmental Assessment displayed in mid 2012 - in line with the project timetable outlined in the Government’s Metropolitan Transport Plan.

[REDWatch Note - On 31 August 2010 it was confirmed that "Transport NSW has no intention to use either Leamington Lane or Iverys Lane for the Western Express."]