CBD Relief Line

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about Sydney, Australia. For Toronto, Canada, see
Downtown Relief Line
.

CBD Relief Line
Overview
StatusCancelled
LocaleSydney
Stations4-5
Service
TypeCommuter rail
Services1
History
Announced2010
Cancelled2011

The CBD Relief Line, also known as the Western Express Rail,[1] was a proposed underground railway line through the Sydney central business district. The line was intended to augment the existing city underground network and ease congestion at some of the city's busiest stations. The new line was proposed to link to the Main Suburban railway line, which would have increased that line's capacity.

The line included proposed stations or platforms at Redfern (new platforms), Railway Square, City West and Wynyard (new platforms).

Earlier proposals

In 2005, the

CBD Metro
. In 2010 the CBD Metro was cancelled and replaced by the CBD Relief Line.

Concept

Like the original CBD Rail Link proposal, the CBD Relief Line was intended to be integrated into the CityRail network. The CBD Relief Line was proposed to utilise the MetroWest corridor, terminate at Wynyard and link into the Western line. This differed from the CBD Rail Link which utilised the MetroPitt corridor and crossed the harbour to link into the

Airport or Campbelltown Express
lines to the south.

The CBD Relief Line would have connected to the existing network via the "Main" pair of tracks of the Main Suburban line at the Illawarra Junction. The "Mains" can currently only be accessed by suburban trains by means of a flat junction from the "Suburban" pair of tracks, creating a bottleneck and meaning the "Mains" are not used to their full capacity. By removing the need to cross the flat junction, more suburban trains would have been able to use the "Mains" which would have freed up additional capacity on the "Suburbans" and on the existing CBD lines.

The proposed operational arrangement was dubbed "Western Express". This concept envisaged limited stops trains commencing from Wynyard, then utilising the CBD Relief Line, the "Main" pair of tracks on the Main Suburban line and the

Western Suburbs. The Government claimed this would enable a 5-minute reduction in travel time and a 90% capacity improvement between Wynyard and Parramatta, and a 10-minute reduction in travel time and a 50% capacity improvement between Wynyard and Penrith or the Richmond branch line.[2]

Cancellation

In early 2011, the then Liberal–National state opposition indicated it would defer the project, preferring to instead focus on the North West Rail Link.

March 2011 state election the Liberal–National O'Farrell Government cancelled the project.[4] The Liberal–National government later proposed the Sydney Metro City & Southwest, a metro
line that also bypasses existing stations in the CBD.

See also

  • Proposed railways in Sydney - other cancelled railway projects in Sydney
  • West Metro
    - an earlier proposal with overlapping aims.
  • Western FastRail
    - a fast rail line between the outer Western Suburbs and the CBD, proposed by the private sector.
  • Sydney Metro City & Southwest - a metro line under construction that bypasses existing stations in the CBD

References

  1. ^ "Community update June 2010 - WESTERN EXPRESS RAIL PROJECT" (PDF). Transport for NSW. Transport NSW. June 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2013.
  2. ^ Metropolitan Transport Plan, p. 31. NSW Transport and Infrastructure, 2010.
  3. ^ "Coalition to axe rail links to cut $3.8b in spending". Railpage. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  4. ^ Saulwick, J. No rail plans for Barangaroo's commuters Archived 18 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 June 2011.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=CBD_Relief_Line&oldid=1268600595"