Re: [NSW] More Complaints on CityRail Southern Highlands

["Bradley Torr" <truenorth@one.net.au.SPAMTRAP>]

David Bennetts <davibenn@ozemail.com.au> wrote in article
<fyAQ6.1979$Yr1.86273@ozemail.com.au>...
> 
> "Geoff Lillico" <glillic@msn.com.au> wrote in message
> news:pTyQ6.25986$hV3.34908@newsfeeds.bigpond.com...
> > Let's face it. We have here the age old story of people retiring or
> > semi-retiring to an area with transport inferior to the metropolitan
area
> > and then kicking up a stink. They moved for good and valid reasons, but
6
> > services an hour to the city was NOT one of them.
> >
> > --
> > Geoff Lillico
> >
> >
> I think it'll be a long time before we get 6 services an hour to the city
> from here!  You make a valid point about people retiring to areas such as
> this, but if you look at the increases in services to the Central Coast
and
> Illawarra which have occurred over the past decade, the Southern
Highlands
> ranks a poor cousin.  Two car Endeavours from Sydney on a roughly two
hourly
> service obviously can't meet the demand.  There's also the point that
south
> of Macarthur to Bargo there is a large population increase, and with no
> shorter distance trains there is massive overcrowding on this section.
> These aren't the retired/semi-retired people to which you allude.

I've long believed that the Southern Highlands corridor is more than worthy
of electrification and track re-alignment. The population of the Southern
Highlands is 77,651 (The Shires of Wollondilly and Wingecarribee combined)
- or, if you wish to include the City of Goulburn and Shire of Mulwaree
which are still served by CityRail (though this is really not in realistic
commuting distance), 104,655. while the population of the area services by
the Blue Mountains Line (the City of Blue Mountains plus the City of
Greater Lithgow) is 96,345 - 76,541 within the City of Blue Mountains if
you exclude Lithgow for being outside of realistic commuting range to
Sydney.

(Source: NSW Dept. of Local Government, Local Government Directory -
http://www.dlg.nsw.gov.au )

These two ex-urban corridors are of similar demography and population, yet
the Blue Mountains was electrified over two decades ago, while Southern
Highlanders have to make do with relatively infrequent Endeavours and an
inconvenient change at Campbelltown to electric suburban sets.

This is yet more evidence of the politicisation of public transport service
provision in the state of New South Wales. While the Blue Mountains and
Central Coast have had electric intercity services for over 20 years - both
being home to some marginal seats - Wollongong only got its wires strung up
when Independent MP Frank Arkell broke the Labor vice-like stronghold on
politics when he won the seat of Wollongong for two terms in the 1980's.
The Southern Highlands have been solidly Liberal for many years.

> There is definitely scope for improvement in the rail service to this
> region, and if the Government is serious about decentralisation it will
> provide adequate services to meet the demand.

Decentralisation = Sprawl.... and you can't have that with the current
Government's well-intentioned but disastrously-implemented 'urban
consolidation' policy!

The main reason why there is such demand for rail transport on the Southern
Highlands.. and the Central Coast, and the Blue Mountains, and the
Illawarra... is because more and more people are moving to these satellite
regions for a variety of reasons - but particularly a housing shortage
along with no new widespread public housing projects; and spiralling crime
and social fragmentation in Sydney. While Governments continue with their
ill-considered sprawl controls and encourage high levels of migration (both
from overseas, and country-to-city) which place upward pressure on housing
costs, you will have working and lower-middle class families move further
and further away from the city to pursue The Australian Dream of home
ownership and placing pressure on ex-urban infrastructure.

That's my opinion, anyway.