Gladys Berejiklian – Statement on Labor’s new rail line
Friday 13 March 2015
STATEMENT FROM MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN
In government Labor announced 12 rail lines over 16 years and all they could deliver was half of one. Labor talked about the South West Rail Link for more than a decade, cancelled and re-announced it, and did not lay a centimetre of track.
Labor’s announcement today is that they will build a new train line if two Labor governments are elected and all the stars align – or maybe when pigs fly.
The 11.4 kilometre South West Rail Link built and opened by the Baird Government last month, costed $1.8 billion.
The latest Transport for NSW official estimate for a 24 kilometre rail line from the South West Rail Link to the Western Line via Badgerys Creek is close to $2.5 billion, that is in today’s dollars without contingency (which could be more than $4 billion in future dollars with contingency) – quite a bit more than Labor’s estimate of less than $1 billion.
Let’s be clear, Labor have not made a clear commitment of a single dollar to this project today.
Typical Labor, transport planning on the back of an envelope two weeks before an election with no funding to back it up.
This means Labor have now promised to build one third of the Second Harbour Crossing in 10 years’ time and less than half of a rail line for Sydney’s South West.
To show how hopeless they are, Anthony Albanese today said the only way to get by train from Parramatta to the South West is via Central. In fact, the Cumberland Line takes commuters directly from Parramatta to Liverpool which connects to the South West Rail Link.
The Baird Government built the South West Rail Link and it opened this year one year of ahead of schedule and $300 million under budget. We have started the North West Rail Link from scratch and we’re ahead of schedule to have world-class rapid transit services running in the first half of 2019. If re-elected we will fast-track a Second Harbour Crossing and extend Rapid Transit services to Bankstown – completely transforming Sydney’s rail network.
The Baird Government has a clear commitment to provide the roads and transport needed to support the Second Sydney Airport when it opens. We have already started the work to preserve a corridor for a future rail line, including working closely with the community through detailed consultation.
