New South Wales authorities have proposed the development of Greater Sydney transport system to sustain the balanced grow of all the region’s areas and the establishment of efficient connections to ensure quality and efficient services. The strategy includes the optimisation of existing connections from local to regional links, but also the construction of new railways, mass transit and light rail lines and new roads. In parallel, a plan was launched for Sydney’s central, eastern and western areas creating three central cities fully connected to the public transport infrastructure.
Five years ago, Transport for New South Wales launched Sydney’s development strategy over the next two decades, but the challenges arisen from the increase of population, environment concerns and the need to develop a sustainable economy, have determined the authorities to elaborate a new transport strategy that was announced in October. This time, for the next four decades or, more precisely, until 2056.
The new strategy does not cancel the projects mentioned in the two-decade plan, being rather a more comprehensive strategy, which includes three parts. The government has assumed financing for the projects to be implemented over the next ten years. Future Transport 2056 Strategy relies on services oriented towards customers and technology to ensure integrated, accessible, reliable, safe and sustainable services.
The Regional NSW population is expected to increase by 400,000 until 2036, while another 200,000 is estimated to add to the numbers by 2056, predominantly in Newcastle, the Central Coast and Wollongong. Significant increases are also expected in the north and south coast regions. Regional NSW is inhabited by 3.1 million people, which is 40% of the state’s population. By 2056, their number will amount to 3.6 million.
Currently, the transport network provides mobility services to 385 million passengers a year by rail, 10 million passengers by light rail, 315 million passengers by bus and 16 million passengers by ferryboats.
Future Transport 2056 includes the 9 regions in Greater Sydney metropolitan area, each one of them supporting one or two regional cities and a similar number of regional centres, each being a key point in establishing the transport hubs mentioned in the strategy for the next 40 years. Part of the regional cities are represented by Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Maitland, Wagga Wagga, Albury or Shellharbour.
The strategy proposes measures and projects for providing improved transport services for Regional NSW’s potential customers by developing “the hub and spoke” network model starting from Regional Cities without massive concentration on Sydney. This orientation will make the most of the role of the Cities and Regional Centres at the level of jobs, services and cultural activities hubs and nationally, as they are crossed by the transport networks that provide connections between countries.
To develop and improve the transport system, the authorities propose projects to reduce road traffic, to increase public transport share and to maximise the use of public space.
Thus, in the rail transport sector, the projects identified by the strategy include the establishment of a transit and/or rail system from Parramatta to Kogarah (Sydney’s southern suburb), eliminating the alternative of crossing the capital’s centre, the development of a plan for rail connection between Norwest (Sydney suburb) and Parramatta, the extension of the metro network and the construction of light rail extensions that cross Sydney, Parramatta and Newcastle. The future rail network of Greater Sydney will form the backbone of the transport system being supported by the bus, light rail and ferry networks that will enable passengers to reach the nearest transfer point.
Sydney three cities
The new strategy also supports a new plan, launched on the same day, for the next four decades, proposed by Greater Sydney Chief Commissioner, Lucy Turnbull. Within the plan, Greater Sydney will become a region of three cities connected to a public transport network to provide efficient connections to new residential areas, jobs and other activities. It includes the development of three areas of Sydney, the eastern, western and central areas.
“Reshaping Greater Sydney as a metropolis of three cities – the Western Parkland City, Central River City and Eastern Harbour City will rebalance it, fostering jobs, improving housing choice and affordability, easing congestion and enhancing our enviable natural environment across the entire region,” Lucy Turnbull said.
For Greater Sydney, the population is also expected to increase from 4.7 million to 8 million by 2056. For the next 20 years, the city is expected to offer another 817 thousand jobs. Under these circumstances, Greater Sydney Commission estimates the number of daily journeys to increase to 22 million, a fact which challenges the existing transport infrastructure, as well as the need to expand it.
To meet these challenges, the authorities propose that Greater Sydney metropolis should be formed of three individual and connected cities: Western Parkland City, west of M7, Central River City with its Greater Parramatta centre, and Eastern Harbour City. Traditionally, jobs and the transport system are concentrated to the east, forcing the rest of the population (from the other areas) to take much longer journeys. Thus, the vision of the three cities offers new opportunities and resources enabling a balanced development of the areas and improving the local character of communities. By integrating transport connections, many citizens will have access to new jobs and services in less than 30 minutes. That is what the proposed vision is all about.
Western Parkland City
The economic accelerators of this city will be Western Sydney Airport and Badgerys Creek Aerotropolis and the authorities focus on developing the commercial activity, logistics, the processing industry and science. The city requires the significant development of infrastructure and services with connections to the north, east and south.
Central River City
The city will benefit from its position in the centre of Greater Sydney and, through improved radial transport connections, will continue to develop as health, education and research centre, but also as a financial and business centre in Greater Parramatta. Urban renewal and the integration of new neighbouring areas will benefit from new green and infrastructure areas to attract 100 top businesses. All these activities will be supported by public and private investments of around USD 7.7 billion in Greater Parramatta and by new transport connections to provide access to jobs and to the services necessary to a well-developed society. New transport connections to the neighbouring centres in Macquarie Park, Norwest, Sydney Olympic Park and Bankstown are also considered.
Eastern Harbour City
The establishment of this city will require further investments and new business opportunities which, in turn, will stimulate the global growth of the Eastern Economic Corridor. Moreover, the cumulus of benefits resulted from assets in the west of Harbour CBD, such as universities, international innovation companies, development of start-ups will support the establishment of an Innovation Corridor. The growth will be supported by protecting the operations of Sydney Airport and Port Botany international access gates.
Optimised transport connections between the three cities will maximise the levels of productivity and competitiveness of Greater Sydney. The improvement of transport connections between these cities on the north-south axis will enable the creation of new access opportunities for the residents of all neighbouring cities, will improve business-to-business connections and provide a wide range of possibilities to establish new residential districts and jobs. The plan announced by the authorities includes the need to develop new rail and road connections from Port Kembla to freight transport networks, especially the intermodal facilities in Western Parkland City. This project includes new rail connections for freight transport through Maldon – Dumbarton Corridor, but also road connections to Outer Sydney Orbital proposed corridor.
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