Congratulations to New South Wales for showing the world that it, too, can waste a lot of money building ridiculous rail lines. The Australian state’s Labour government had planned to spend $1.4 billion (all figures in this post in Australian dollars) building a 16-mile line from the suburbs of Chatswood to Parramatta. But local residents protested the line’s routing through a park, so planners decided to put the rail line underground, greatly increasing the cost.
The original plan: Parramatta to Chatswood.
The line now under construction from Epping to Chatswood is only about 8 miles long and the cost is nearly $2 billion. (The $2.3 billion cost quoted in the papers apparently includes interest.) The other 8 miles were postponed because they would cost $1.2 billion and add only 15,000 new riders to the system.
Under construction: Epping to Chatswood.
How many new riders will the $2.0 billion segment add? 12,000. So how does that make sense?
Ridership might have been higher, but the decision to use a tunnel rather than a surface line meant that no station could be built to serve a campus of the University of Technology — the tunnel was too deep for a station.
The actual route is much more circuitous than shown on the stylized transit maps.
The original project was supposed to be done in 2006. The shorter, revised project was supposed to be done in 2008. Now they hope it will open in 2009.
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You can’t have these trains on your new route.
The plans hit a snag when it was revealed that the transit systems newer Tangara trains won’t be able to run on the route because of the steep, 3.5 percent grades coming up out of the tunnels. Not to worry, the government says: there are plenty of older, decrepit trains that can make the grades.
The planned redevelopment for Chatswood, now in receivership.
More recently, one of the transit agency’s “public-private partners” went bankrupt. CRI Chatswood was redeveloping the area around the Chatsworth train station with retail shops and 500 housing units in three high-rise towers. It blames the “present global financial situation, coupled with certain commercial aspects of the Project,” for its failure. Don’t worry, says the government; the trains will still start running in 2009 even if the buildings are empty.
The latest is that, despite acoustical treatments in the tunnel, early operations reveal that the trains are too loud for passengers. Don’t worry, says the government: 90 decibels won’t make you lose your hearing. However, it will probably add to the cost as they try to fix the problem.
When the Epping to Chatswood link opens, trains will follow these circuitous routes: to get from Hornsby to Eastwood, riders will have to go all the way into Sydney (Central) and back.
Meanwhile, by an amazing coincidence, the transit agency plans to cut rail services just before the new line opens. Do you suppose this cost-cutting measure has anything to do with the high cost of the new rail line?
Meanwhile, Sydney is beset by the usual build-it-at-any-cost mentality. Most of the region’s new highways are toll roads that pay for themselves, while rail lines are sinking the state deeper into debt. But rail lovers don’t see the difference.
The Epping-to-Chatsworth line is billed as “the state’s biggest infrastructure project.” With this many problems in one short, 8-mile line, New South Wales taxpayers should be glad the state is not building any bigger projects.
I don’t know enough details about this project.
Though a lot of highway projects are “build it at any cost”.
Has ROT ever commented on how many pork highway there are?
Antiplanner wrote:
“Congratulations to New South Wales for showing the world that it, too, can waste a lot of money building ridiculous rail lines. ”
Yes, it’s quite bizarre, isn’t it?
“But local residents protested the line’s routing through a park, so planners decided to put the rail line underground, greatly increasing the cost.”
One of the benefits of rail is that you can route it through a pedestrianised area.
“How many new riders will the $2.0 billion segment add? 12,000. So how does that make sense? ”
That, as Antiplanner says, is in AUS$. In US$ it’s $1.2bn, which neatly works out at US$100,000 each.
“The latest is that, despite acoustical treatments in the tunnel, early operations reveal that the trains are too loud for passengers. Don’t worry, says the government: 90 decibels won’t make you lose your hearing. However, it will probably add to the cost as they try to fix the problem.”
Choice – a) relay the rails, using ballast, or b) you get a free set of ear defenders with every ticket.
Although Antiplanner also wrote:
“When the Epping to Chatswood link opens, trains will follow these circuitous routes: to get from Hornsby to Eastwood, riders will have to go all the way into Sydney (Central) and back.”
Hornsby – Epping, change for Eastwood.
“Meanwhile, Sydney is beset by the usual build-it-at-any-cost mentality”.
It feels like someone has worked so long on their pet project, that they now own it, and are determined to protect their baby, irrespective of the opportunities foregone as a result of this scheme. And the loss of existing services, which probably lose as many passengers as the new scheme will gain.
Just as O’Toole and Cox don’t like rail transport, because it competes for funds against their benefactors pet highway projects.