Proposed Metro stirs up the Inner West

the proposed CBD Metro from the city to Rozelle is creating ongoing controversy in the Leichhardt Council area, with councillors holding widely different views. The two Labor councillors both maintain strong support for the project, while the Greens, the Liberals and the Independent councillors are opposed.
Locals are worried about the the effects on traffic near the station, and about the nuisance and noise that will be generated by the five year construction program. Leichhardt Mayor Jamie Parker (Greens) said “ A Childcare centre, local businesses and the local neighbourhood centre are all under threat by the proposed Metro, and questions about traffic, the lack of parking and whether such a huge expenditure would be better spent in the north west remain.” He noted that the Metro would carry up to thirty thousand passengers per hour but that buses at a Rozelle terminal could only handle three thousand.
But Cr Darcy Byrne (Labor) said “ I strongly support a metro system for Sydney and the CBD Metro is the first step. The CBD Metro will see fast trains going from Rozelle to Town Hall and Central every 2 – 3 minutes, this will be fantastic for the Rozelle, Balmain and Lilyfield communities.” Cr Lyndal Howlison (Labor) also confirmed her support for a Metro system, pointing out that Sydney’s existing heavy rail structure is creaking at the seams. She noted the serious crowding and difficult access in peak hour at Wynyard or Town Hall as examples. “Sydney has outgrown those stations. This situation must be addressed before more people are brought into the CBD on trains.”
Other councillors do not share this enthusiasm. Cr Gordon Weiss (Liberal) is a representative of the ward that includes Balmain. He also is concerned that the position of the station under the intersection of Balmain and Victoria roads will cause traffic problems. Cr Weiss noted that Compulsory Acquisition Orders are expected for the properties on all four corners of the intersection to provide the superstructure for the station. He said “The project cost is blowing out before they even start work. It is the wrong place to be spending this huge sum of money”, and said that it might not even happen “as the government doesn’t have the money for it and it is hard to imagine another private public consortium after the disasters of the Lane Cove Tunnel and the Cross City Tunnel”. Cr John Stamolis (Independent) also in the Balmain ward agreed. “Public transport to the inner-city certainly needs to be improved but this could be best done by innovative and cost-effective solutions such as a light rail extension, improved ferry and bus services. Terminating a metro service at Rozelle is problematic. Residents have expressed concerns to me about all these issues.”

Shooting through to Dulwich Hill by tram

A protest in support of extending the existing Metro Light Rail from Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill met Bob Carr when he launched the Museum of Sydney’s exhibition Shooting Through on a tram.
The EcoTransit Sydney community group made sure placards calling for “Light Rail Now” were always in view of the TV cameras there for the exhibition’s opening. To a chant of “17 million not 4 billion” protesters wove through the crowd with a large polystyrene model of a Metro tram held over their heads, and handed out copies of the EcoTransit Sydney (ETS) newsletter and a flyer outlining how Carr had promised to extend light rail in 2000, but did not follow through.
Leichhardt Mayor Jamie Parker spoke passionately in support of the new line and compared the $4Bn price tag for the mini metro to Rozelle with the $17 m required to extend the existing Metro Light Rail.
“An extension to Dulwich Hill is a must and we need another line to the Quay as advocated by Clover Moore,” Parker said.
The mayor described light rail as a cheap, low-cost and low footprint technology and said the extension would take less than a year to fit out and should be started immediately. “Most of the infrastructure already exists, and all inner-west councils are committed to this in a completely non-partisan way,” he said. “Let’s make sure that trams are not just about the past; they are also about the future.”
ETS spokesman Gavin Gatenby said the Government had failed to tackle this issue.
“We have been campaigning for a year. The tracks are there, the infrastructure is there, and it’s all in good condition. It just needs the government to make a decision. All we get is evasions and excuses. In Europe and America and other places light rail systems are the way of the future, because they work, because they are cheap, and because they are people-friendly.”
The exhibition was opened by Jill Wran, wife of retired premier Neville Wran, and former premier Bob Carr. The museum is run by the Historic Houses Trust and its chairman thanked curators and museum staff for their two years of work putting the show together.
Carr talked about growing up in Matraville catching trams to school, and gave an anecdotal overview of the huge tram network that existed in Sydney until the sixties. He did not discuss new tram lines, and did not respond to the ETS flyer.
“This is a government without guiding intelligence,” said Gatenby as ETS packed up its placards. “The advantages of light rail seem to be obvious to everyone except them.”
Check http://www.ecotransit.org.au/ for details of the light rail proposal, and http://www.hht.net.au/ to find out about the Shooting Through exhibition.