Submission on Parramatta Rail Link

Action for Public Transport (NSW) strongly support this project. This is because it will benefit present rail users east and west of Parramatta, and on the Central Coast, and create new users around Ryde. It will improve reliability of peak and after-peak services. It does so by re-using much existing infrastructure, minimising construction costs. It represents a welcome relief from predict-and-provide roadbuilding, which has so much been a feature of Sydney since 1960.

We also support the bridge/viaduct crossing of Lane Cove River because it permits the construction of two extra stations, and shortens the route, even though it may have minor environmental impact locally. However, we have several comments to make on various aspects of the project.

Lane Cove River crossing - above or below?

Many pertinent points were raised in Sydney Morning Herald correspondence in December and an editorial in January. I enclose copies. Please take the valid points into account. Note that some of the letters exaggerate the environmental effects of the viaduct.

There appear to be three main arguments for the viaduct:

It permits construction of two extra stations, which between them are expected to carry about 10,000 new passengers each day, corresponding to removing 5,000 cars from local roads.
It makes the railway operationally safer by providing portals which might one day be emergency access to difficulties in tunnels.
The 11-second glimpse of the river for over 10 million passengers yearly counters the loss of sky for a few picnickers

Counter-arguments (that the railway viaduct will have a significant impact on users of Lane Cove National Park) should be evaluated carefully after examining the situation around the viaduct's alignment. There are 29 designated picnic areas shown on the current map of Lane Cove National Park. The following areas already suffer traffic noise from Millwood Avenue, Delhi Road and/or Lady Game Drive:

1 Koonjeree
2 Illoura
4 Moola
6 Ironbarks
30 The Oaks
31 Jenkins Hill
32 Turrumburra Flat
33 Bakers Flat
34 Casuarina Point
35 Haynes Flat
38 Fullers Park

and several of them also are within clear sight of main roads. In certain wind conditions, there is also noise from aeroplanes in all picnic areas. Thus, railway noise is unlikely to be noticeable anywhere upstream of the weir. Hence, the additional noise impact of railway services on Park users is negligible. As for the visual impact, the viaduct will only be visible from Koonjeree, The Oaks and Fullers Park, all of which are well within sight of at least one busy road. So the additional visual impact of railway services on Park users is minor at most.

Public Involvement

This project has an opportunity to involve the public in its development to a much greater extent than recent transport infrastructure projects. To do so would benefit both the public and the proponents, because the raised public awareness of railway development would make future railways easier to bring about. We suggest that public involvement in station design and the finish of the Lane Cove River viaduct be maximised. In the case of stations, both commuters and the nearby community should be involved in design.

As the first significant rail project for many years, and we hope the first of many more, maximum use should be made of the Internet, newsletters, and the general news media. There should be good public access to decision-makers throughout construction.

One of the stations, probably Macquarie University, should be selected and made a showpiece rather than being a carbon copy of other stations. It could be made to complement its local environment. This might help with public perception of the project. The best measure of the project's success is its ability to get motorists out of their cars; this is best done by showing them something more attractive than driving.

Design principles for the stations

We note that the EIS design guidelines for stations are from the engineering viewpoint. This is incorrect; it is essential that the passenger viewpoint be upheld. In particular,

Walking distance between the train and the passengers' destinations must be minimised. Making people zigzag 100 metres past a battery of shops may be good marketing but is not good railway. Nor is it good security, as it increases the length of time for which people are on railway property and therefore also increases the amount of time for which they are exposed to risks on railway property. Macquarie University station fails dismally on this count.
Convenience is crucial for bus interchange stations. The buses should ideally be only a few steps from the railway carriage.
Passengers should be protected from noise and the weather as much as possible.
Ticket-selling machines should be oriented so that queues growing in front of them do not block the main stream of passengers walking along the concourse.
The gap between the train and the platform edge should be minimised and there should be no difference in level.

Names of the stations

The name "Rosehill/Camellia" seems unwieldy. We suggest Rosehill.
The name "Macquarie University" suffers from two disadvantages, namely that the station is much closer to the shopping centre than to any useful part of the university and that no other CityRail station is named after a campus. We suggest Macquarie.
The name "Macquarie Park" seems inappropriate, partly because there is no park near it with that name, and partly because people might confuse it with Macquarie. In view of the station's location, we suggest North Ryde.
The name "Delhi Road" seems inappropriate, because CityRail stations are not generally named after roads. The most historically apt name would be Fairyland, but that is precluded by its other connotations. We suggest Riverside.
The name "UTS Kuringai" seems inappropriate, because CityRail stations are not generally named after campuses and because that campus has changed name before and might well suffer another name change in the future. We suggest West Roseville.

Parramatta Regional Park

We support use of the existing Westmead Dive as a starting-point for the in-bound ("up") tunnel. We oppose any impact on Parramatta Park north-east of the railway. When the parking site which was once a construction yard for the Westmead Dive is no longer needed for railway work, which may already be the case, we would like to see the Park Trust co-operate with CityRail in cleaning up the area. The Trust should take its office somewhere away from the land between the railway and Old Government House and restore the office site and car park to parkland. Ideally the whole railway should be lowered a few metres to permit re-joining the golf course part of the Park with the rest. If that cannot be accomplished as part of this project, we suggest constructing a land bridge spanning the railway tracks at the deepest part of the railway cutting.

Parramatta Station

We suggest constructing two extra low-level platforms, below the proposed Link platforms, for future uses such as a new north-south railway through Parramatta. Doing so now would be much less disruptive and costly than doing it later. We note that the new St Leonards station has two unused platforms reserved for future use; Parramatta should do likewise.

Provision for future railway expansion

As shown in the EIS, stub tunnels should be provided at Roseville and Harris Park to simplify construction of junctions at those points if and when required.

Bus interchanges

Sydney and Melbourne to date have not run their bus interchanges very well. This project should be taken as an opportunity to reverse that trend, at least as far as Parramatta-Chatswood is concerned. Perth does rather better than Sydney/Melbourne. However, good examples of bus interchange operation are best sought in Europe. There one finds buses arriving at the interchange from many directions at about the same time, and leaving in all directions a few minutes later so that bus/bus transfers are made with minimal delay.

In Sydney, there are chronic weaknesses in bus-train co-ordination that are probably due to communication faults on each side as much as to train and traffic delays. However, if this project is to reverse the road-building habits of the last thirty years, special effort is called for.

General points, applicable along the whole route

The EIS states that provision should be made for cellular telephone services, but does not say whether this applies to stations or tunnels. It should apply to all tunnels and all stations, including platforms, concourses and connecting passages. It should apply to all GSM and CDMA services.
Every station should have bicycle lockers, planned from the outset rather than later being put into an odd corner somewhere.
The advertising in each station should be limited in extent, and certainly not include audio-visual displays like those soon to be installed at ten underground stations.
The 10- and 5- minute walking distance lines on EIS maps of each station's catchment areas are arguably conservative. Expanding the catchment areas would of course increase the estimated patronage of each station, making the railway still more attractive.

Macquarie University station

This station is too far from the campus it purports to serve. It is hundreds of metres from the centre of campus, much further than bus stops and car parks. Yet it stands to be relied on by thousands of people daily for access to the campus. At the very least, the station should be moved 150 metres north-west and given a second concourse closer to the campus (while retaining the Herring Road concourse with subways below Herring Road to Macquarie Centre and the bus interchange). Additionally, some form of people mover should be constructed to the University campus as an extender. This people mover should be highly visible, and should deliver users much closer to buildings than the carparks do.

Chatswood portal construction arrangements

The EIS envisages two spells of six months each with no weekend trains between Gordon and North Sydney while the formation and track are prepared between Boundary Street and Chatswood. This disruption stands to be a major imposition on local train travellers and likely to sully their opinion of railways. It might be possible to get more efficient working conditions, with less passenger disruption, by closing the line for one or more Januarys as was done a few years ago with the Illawarra line between Mortdale and Sutherland. Naturally, special arrangements would need to be made on festival evenings in January when huge numbers of people need to move along the North Shore line.

In the event that the six-month weekend disruptions occur, great care should be taken to minimise inconvenience and delay to passengers. In particular, authorities should recognise that while the train trip between Chatswood and Wynyard takes 19 minutes, the same journey takes only 12 minutes in an express bus using the Gore Hill Freeway. Unfortunately, this relationship is reversed for trips changing from bus to train at North Sydney, partly because roads around North Sydney are not optimal for bus access to the station (and nor should they be). I argue that any bus services should not terminate at North Sydney but should travel directly into the CBD, with a stop at Wynyard and a second stop somewhere near Market Street. The Wynyard stop should be in York Street. Buses used should have wide front doors for quick loading, and preferably also a centre door for quick unloading. Nothing less will come close to the convenience of the usual rail service. Whether the trains turn at North Sydney or around the City Circle is irrelevant to this argument.

During recent spells of trackwork, much passenger time has been wasted by full-sized buses carrying passengers between North Sydney and Wynyard via Milsons Point station who have no need to go that way. Milsons Point should be served with a shuttle bus to North Sydney run by vehicles which do the trip quickly, probably by being small enough to turn back at the Alfred/Fitzroy roundabout. Another difficulty with substitute buses is that road approaches to Killara are also awkward yet only a few passengers need to reach Killara. Fortunately, the people who organise buses during trackwork have been getting Killara buses right recently, minimising the numbers of passengers being delayed by needlessly riding in buses which service Killara. Generally, buses should be organised to carry the majority of passengers efficiently, with a lighter service to handle minority destinations.

A characteristic of North Shore substitute bus services on Saturdays is that they never seem to have sufficient capacity for the 9 a.m. peak. Further, they get delayed in heavy traffic at many points between Mowbray Road and Gordon. Unless these problems can be resolved, they should be regarded as another argument against serial weekend shutdowns.

The EIS adverts to the heritage nature of the Horseland saddlery building. This building (989 Pacific Highway) is only one, although the larger one, of the two buildings comprising the former Seymours service station. The other is now Chatswood Classic Cars (985 Pacific Highway), south of William Street. It might be worthwhile including the caryard, extending between William Street and Ashley Street, in the resumptions and re-shaping the work site so as to preserve BOTH of these buildings. This matter should be addressed in assessment of the proposal.

Ryde Council

Considerable co-ordination will be needed to provide acceptable pedestrian connection between the River Avenue area and Delhi Road station. This might involve both a track through the bush near Quebec Ave and some sort of path beside Delhi Road. Council should co-ordinate these works.

Ku-Ring-Gai Council

Considerable co-ordination will be needed to provide acceptable pedestrian connection between UTS station and Lady Game Drive. Likewise, if the Lane Cove River crossing carries a path, it will need suitable connection to the UTS campus. Council should co-ordinate these works.

Possible shared cycleway on the viaduct

There seems to be scope for the path across the Lane Cove River viaduct to be a shared cycleway forming part of a link between North Ryde and the U.T.S. campus. The western side could connect by a suitably-graded ramp with a path alongside Delhi Road. The eastern side should connect to the campus by a suitably-graded path which would require careful design so as not to upset drainage etc. Planning already done for the Campus Rear Access Road from Lady Game Drive shows that the connection would be possible despite the grade.

Delhi Road portal

Steps should be taken to ensure tunnel work on Crematorium Hill stays well away from Flat Rock, where there are apparently colonies of rare/threatened amphibian species.

Lane Cove National Park

The working party reviewing the appearance and finish of the viaduct should press for design which matches the unique 1930 sandstone architecture of the Park, exemplified by stone gateposts, stone fences, retaining walls, and the heritage toilet blocks. It might be possible to make the whole viaduct reminiscent of the Knapsack Gully railway bridge, or the turrets of the Northbridge road bridge, for example.

The local bushland regenerators should be encouraged to plant quick-growing tall trees, such as Sydney bluegums, around the viaduct worksite now so that the trees will be a reasonable height by the time the railway opens, softening the visual lines of the viaduct. This work should be at CityRail expense, in order to give some return to the Park for its loss. More funds should be made available to the Park for its other conservation work, such as rare amphibians, for the same reason.

Stringent steps should be taken to ensure that construction work above Lady Game Drive has minimal impact on the bush there.

The project represents an opportunity for the Park to be expanded by formally incorporating various sites around River Avenue. State Rail should press for this opportunity to be exploited to the maximum extent.

Yours faithfully,

(Jim Donovan)
Secretary

encl: Copies of Herald letters and editorial