TNSW Community Update August 2010

The analysis has established that there is no engineering or design need to acquire properties in the locality.

There has been understandable concern amongst Leamington Avenue residents and Transport NSW has moved quickly to resolve the issue by accelerating early design and engineering work.

At a meeting with local residents on July 5, Transport NSW gave the following undertakings in developing concepts in the area for the City Relief Line:

• Minimise impacts on private property.
• Make maximum use of lands in public ownership.
• Provide a response to residents by early September.

Transport NSW understands that this has been a difficult time for local residents and thanks them for their patience and understanding while the investigation work has been conducted. Transport NSW will now undertake detailed assessments for the new underground City Relief Line including design, engineering, survey and geotechnical drilling work. The imperative is to take the necessary time to get the right solution. This detailed design and engineering 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 (including the City Relief Line). This will be subject to extensive community consultation before any final decisions are made.

About Western Express

The NSW Government is working to deliver faster and more frequent rail services for Western and North Western Sydney and to increase the overall capacity of CityRail through Western Express.

Western Express forms part of the NSW Government’s Metropolitan Transport Plan as announced in February 2010.

It will:

Separate key rail lines and streamline services to deliver more reliable rail travel with improved travel times, improved capacity and fewer delays.Provide for faster, more frequent services from the west with a major increase in capacity of 5,000extra seats per hour. Make the existing rail network more efficient, with extra train services from the north (eg, Eastwood to North Strathfield), south and south west (eg Macarthur and Liverpool), and the Inner West (Newtown).

New Western Express train services will be introduced from Penrith and Richmond.

A new underground line, known as the City Relief Line will be built with new platforms at Redfern, Railway Square (near Central), City West (near Town Hall) and Wynyard to cater for these new services.

Need to Know More?

Regular updates on the Western Express Program can be found on the Transport NSW Website www.transport.nsw.gov.au

Katherine Martin is the Place Manager for the Western Express. She can be contacted during business hours on 8238 2700 or emailed via katherine.martin@transport.nsw.gov.au

Source: www.transport.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/file/rail/Western-Express-Community-Update-2010-08.pdf