WS Airport Metro

[boronia]

From SMH:

A raft of internal documents released under freedom-of-information laws show Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) had raised serious concerns about the safety implications for firefighters and the public about greater distances between cross-passages on multiple occasions over the last two years.

The agency warned Sydney Metro in January last year that greater distances between cross-passages in the tunnels would introduce “unacceptable health and safety risks to firefighters and other emergency responders”.

“It is our assessment that FRNSW and other emergency services in NSW do not currently and will not foreseeably have the capability or the capacity in outer suburban Sydney to provide safe intervention in [Sydney Metro] tunnels where the cross-passage spacing is greater than 240 metres,” it said in correspondence.

Underscoring the extent of the dispute, Fire Rescue NSW said in the correspondence last year that it “does not agree with Sydney Metro that it is acceptable to create a subterranean environment where emergency services are unable to intervene in the event of an emergency however unlikely”.

However, Fire and Rescue NSW assistant commissioner Trent Curtin said it had reached agreement with Sydney Metro on Wednesday to implement the 240-metre Australian standard for cross-passage spacings.

“FRNSW will continue to work with Sydney Metro to ensure the safety design principles in the Australian standards are met,” he said.

A Sydney Metro spokeswoman said both agencies had agreed to cross-passage spacing of about 240 metres except in areas where such a distance was not possible due to ground conditions or water pressure.

“Continued collaboration between both agencies has led to an outcome that ensures the safety of emergency services personnel, commuters, railway staff and construction workers,” she said.

"Raised concerns" is a lot different to "not approving". Surprising that FRNSW did not have greater influence in the approval process.

[jpp42]

I didn't realise the WS Airport metro had tunnels at all... does anyone have a map that shows this kind of detail?

[alleve]

I didn't realise the WS Airport metro had tunnels at all... does anyone have a map that shows this kind of detail?

Wikipedia has an overview of where the tunnels are: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_ ... ey_Airport

[Transtopic]

From SMH:

A raft of internal documents released under freedom-of-information laws show Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) had raised serious concerns about the safety implications for firefighters and the public about greater distances between cross-passages on multiple occasions over the last two years.

The agency warned Sydney Metro in January last year that greater distances between cross-passages in the tunnels would introduce “unacceptable health and safety risks to firefighters and other emergency responders”.

“It is our assessment that FRNSW and other emergency services in NSW do not currently and will not foreseeably have the capability or the capacity in outer suburban Sydney to provide safe intervention in [Sydney Metro] tunnels where the cross-passage spacing is greater than 240 metres,” it said in correspondence.

Underscoring the extent of the dispute, Fire Rescue NSW said in the correspondence last year that it “does not agree with Sydney Metro that it is acceptable to create a subterranean environment where emergency services are unable to intervene in the event of an emergency however unlikely”.

However, Fire and Rescue NSW assistant commissioner Trent Curtin said it had reached agreement with Sydney Metro on Wednesday to implement the 240-metre Australian standard for cross-passage spacings.

“FRNSW will continue to work with Sydney Metro to ensure the safety design principles in the Australian standards are met,” he said.

A Sydney Metro spokeswoman said both agencies had agreed to cross-passage spacing of about 240 metres except in areas where such a distance was not possible due to ground conditions or water pressure.

“Continued collaboration between both agencies has led to an outcome that ensures the safety of emergency services personnel, commuters, railway staff and construction workers,” she said.

"Raised concerns" is a lot different to "not approving". Surprising that FRNSW did not have greater influence in the approval process.

I have been through the Submissions' and the Determination Reports for both Metro West Stage 1 and the WSA Metro and can't find any reference to submissions from Fire & Rescue NSW. While there are references in the reports to such things as "Noise and Vibration" and "Flooding and Hydrology", there doesn't appear, from what I can see, that there is any reference to "Fire Safety and Emergency Evacuation" in tunnels, which you would think would be a major consideration. There is certainly no evidence that Fire & Rescue NSW had previously approved the then tunnel design, as they didn't even make a submission. This all seems rather odd.

[boronia]

The major transformation underway at St Marys railway station has taken another step forward, with Laing O’Rourke awarded an $82.5 million contract to build a new footbridge as part of the Sydney Metro–Western Sydney Airport mega-project.

https://www.railexpress.com.au/contract ... ootbridge/

[tonyp]

Station box work starting at Bradfield/Aerotropolis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mlaZfMkQq8&t