By Lauren O’Connor
Critics of the State Government’s light rail development, say the project will upend Sydney from George Street to the Eastern Suburbs without regard for the consequences.
As part of the ‘Sydney City Centre Access Strategy’ that focuses on investment in public transport, the 67 metre long light rail will be finalised before Christmas and begin construction on April 26 next year, the day after the ANZAC Centenary. The route goes through Circular Quay, George Street and Randwick via Surry Hills and is claimed to add $4 billion worth of value to state assets.
The service will take an estimated five years to complete and will disrupt bus, pedestrian, train, park and traffic routes according to City of Sydney Councillor Linda Scott and Jim Donovan spokesperson for an activist group Action for Public Transport (APT.)
Although supportive of the development Scott expressed concern that costing, community and logistical assessments were not adequately undertaken. She said it was ‘incredibly worrying’ that at this stage of the project important details had not been provided to the Council, who have committed $220 million to its realisation.
“Given that we’re really weeks away from the beginning of construction where the whole of George Street will be dug up, I think its concerning that this level of detail hasn’t been made public … why haven’t we seen plans about how the construction will be managed?” she said.
“I am seriously worried that with the construction phase, which is estimated to be five years long, and without really significant investment in public transport our city will really grind to a halt.”
Donovan told City Hub although light rail is a welcome improvement to congestion in the CBD, it would not fill peak hour capacity and will create problems for parallel routes in other areas of the city.
“As soon as they start, all the George Street Buses will have to stop using George Street,” he said.
“The result will be that all George Street trips will be that much longer. Incoming buses will have to turn at Rawson Place, get to Elizabeth Street and head up to Circular Quay that way
“A lot of the cars will be displaced out of George Street as soon as the work starts and they’ll want to use another north-south street . . . this will go on for four or five years until the light rail starts”.
“They say it’s set in stone, but if we embarrass them enough they might draw back given there’s an election coming,” Donovan said.
Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian announced in October that a consortium ‘Connecting Sydney’ which includes French tram manufacturer Alstom had won the construction contract.
Exploration of subsurface George Street began last week which led to the first of many overnight closures set to continue on Sundays in the coming months.
Ms Berejiklian said that business along the relevant corridors had been thoroughly consulted about the changes through a series of forums.
“The forums have been positive and productive and have become a vital part of helping us limit the impacts of this project during construction,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“…vehicle access to driveways and loading docks will be maintained by traffic controllers during the interchange works, and pedestrian access to footpaths and property entrances adjacent to the worksite will be maintained at all times.”
CLR Scott was clear that Labor is in favour of the light rail and maintains that investment in public transport is a priority for NSW, she has submitted a question time notice to get access to bus, garbage and freight timetables in preparation for the light rail construction period.
“The residents that live in the CBD are obviously going to be directly affected. I have been talking to them about…their concerns…particularly about the construction period like what is going to happen in Chippendale when all those construction vehicles start parking and loading and coming through those tiny back streets in the residential areas,” she said.
“It will affect people who study, who work, it will affect tourism it will affect the whole inner city and I’m incredibly concerned that we don’t have more information.”
