Re: Hexpress

[RC <richy@yahoo.com>]

Dave Proctor wrote:

> On Sun, 10 Jun 2001 15:06:40 GMT, RC <richy@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >Dave Proctor wrote:
> >
> >> On Sun, 10 Jun 2001 14:23:25 GMT, RC <richy@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> >For Gawd's sake they spent (whatwazit) $700 million dollars on the damn thing!
> >> >What did they get - crap I tell ye!
> >>
> >> They got two extra lines from Wolli Creek to Central, two lines which
> >> were needed anyway and which would have cost a large amount of money
> >> to build. Sending it via the airport was merely a bonus.
> >>
> >> Dave
> >
> >Really - how much for two extra lines through the half-built platforms at St Peters
> >and Erskineville? Sixty million at the outside?
>
> Still need to repossess a lot of land, and do a stack of work
> reclaiming a lot of the land between Erskineville and Redfern - the
> railway already owns it so getting it won't be a problem, but
> reclaiming it would be another matter entirely.
>
> >And if you don't go via this route,
> >then of course you will  be going via the Airport and it will be an Airport rail
> >line, and will be judged as such
>
> No, it should be judged as a another set of tracks which needed to be
> built anyway and which happen to serve the airport. Granted it could
> have been done better, but when the primary objective is to handle the
> trains from Campbelltown to the City, the line - as built - serves
> that purpose well.
>
> Dave

This project escalated as they all do - I recall the Fahey govt saying that they were
chipping in the money they had "planned" to spend between
Sydenham and Redfern - through it into the pot. Then there was the Wolli Creek station
they grudgingly said was necessary.

Dave you either haven't refuted my point with evidence, or explained (not your job,
rather the NSW Govt) why a major traffic generator like the city's major airport
which is among other things a major employer, is regarded as an afterthought in
transport planning, just lucky to get some stations as a $700million(?) underground
railway passed nearby. Why build a pair of tunnels of that length when a surface line
through Erskineville would have done the same job?

Maybe you have some evidence that the NSW Govt wanted to spend this amount on a pair of
tunnels which duplicate a surface line - crazier things happen in NSW  such as a line
beyond Bondi Junction that won't serve an additional customer yet cost as much as if it
had, or some sort of shuttle which will operate between Epping and Chatswood, only pick
up the suburb of North Ryde and still cost $1.4billion - amazing stuff.

Anyway I won't join the pessimists as I think the Airport line has a bright long term
future (as a NSW rail lines do just by weight of population growth and traffic
congestion). It will be a long time before RTA can convince government to widen the
Eastern Distributor, and if they heed Treasury's advise and jack up the toll as the road
approaches full, the airport line will eventually get its passengers.

I mean, NSW rail must be pretty grotty if, say in 2005, they can't get an extra
passenger from Seven Hills to the Airport who would otherwise pay the M2 toll at
Baulkham Hills and Epping, the Lane Cove tunnel toll and then either bridge or Eastern
Distributor toll (probably at least $10 each way). Twenty dollars to get to work in a
reasonable time, plus petrol, wear and tear and fixed costs. Or the
Carlingford/Cumberland line against the five dollars plus they want to charge from
Casula to the M2 entrance. Driving is getting expensive.

RC