Re: [NSW] More Complaints on CityRail Southern Highlands

["Al" <alpout@optusnet.com.au>]

"Bradley Torr" <truenorth@one.net.au.SPAMTRAP> wrote in message
01c0e817$1283e720$d32365cb@default">news:01c0e817$1283e720$d32365cb@default...
>
>
> 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.
>

Again, a social problem.  I reckon Australia would be a lot better off with 10
cities the size of Newcastle spread out than we are with 1 city the size of
Sydney.

Al