Rail is continuing to prove a development driver in NSW with a ‘missing’ inland rail section approved and an over-station development launched, all in the past week.
Among the nation’s biggest infrastrucutre projects, the inland rail project will evenutally link Melbourne and Brisbane, and drive a logistics revolution of sorts along the east coast.
As part of the 1600km development, a 37km section from Illabo to Stockinbingal, in the South West Slopes and Riverina of NSW, has been approved.
The section was a missing link between the southern part of the line to Parkes, in the Central West, and the inter-modal junction that connects to Western Australia via South Australia.
Meanwhile, on the newly opened Metro City and Southwest line, joint-venture partners Third.i Group and Phoenix Property Investors have launched their over-station development at Crows Nest.
The project above the Crows Nest Metro Station, dubbed Elevate, was designed by Woods Bagot and comprises 130 apartments, and is part of Stage One of the Hume Place Metro Station development.
Close or co-location of homes to stations, known as “metro-fication”, has been shown to increase property values by 20 to 30 per cent or rents by 15 to 20 per cent.
Third.i director Luke Berry said this was a driving factor for creating Elevate, which was one-of-a-kind in terms of the value the Metro would bring long term to its owners.
“There are plenty of projects claiming close links to the Crows Nest Metro but there was only one project getting built above it all,” he said.
“Having Elevate built directly over the station was why this project will outperform any other local projects in the future.”
And the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC), the peak body representing councils in Greater Western Sydney, has welcomed the release of a previously confidential report commissioned by the Minns Government charting a path for building rail projects over the next two decades.
Despite gains along the rail line there was still a lot to be done to increase the number of residential developments further afield, WSROC said.
In the government report an “ideal assumption” of $4 billion a year in capital spending for future rail projects was outlined.
The spend could have allowed the extension of the Western Sydney Airport Metro line further south from the new city of Bradfield by 2032 as well as an extension of the heavy rail line from Leppington to Bradfield South by 2033.
This would be followed by a northern extension of the airport Metro line from St Marys to Schofields by 2037, and to Tallawong by 2039.
The report also envisaged an extension of the airport line from Bradfield South to Oran Park by 2047 at a cost of $5.1 billion, backing an earlier study commissioned by the Urban Development Institute of Australia.
WSROC president Barry Calvert said they had been advocating for the extension since the 1990s as by 2036 half Sydney’s population would live west of Parramatta.
“Successful global cities deliver city-shaping transport with integrated city-planning outcomes,” Calvert said.
“The need for a rail link is becoming more pressing with unprecedented growth in the region.
“An extra one million people are expected to live in Western Sydney by 2036 and a doubling of the population to 4.1 million by 2041.”
The Hawkesbury City councillor said one of the biggest challenges for Sydney is the struggle to retrofit transport corridors, after the demand for services has already exceeded existing infrastructure.
“Western Sydney’s story is already one of road dependence. A daily exodus of more than 300,000 residents endures Greater Sydney’s longest commute, mostly by car,” Calvert said.
“Such a crucial rail link would be a key piece in connecting the planning vision for the growing region’s current and future liveability.”
