Sydney Metro - Tallawong to Bankstown

[tonyp]

There should have been another station at Redfern or Waterloo, which would have had some bearing on the current SW metro alignment, as well as a better station design at Green Square for example. From memory, I don't think that a station was originally proposed at Wolli Creek, to allow interchange with T4, and the government had to cough up the money for this, which only interchanged with the Illawarra Main (eastern track pair). The project ended up a dud anyway, with the bank funders taking over at a substantial loss.

At the very least, the government could have insisted that provision was made for a future extension from Central into and through the CBD across the harbour. It was well known at the time that this was a long term objective to add to capacity through the CBD. The Metropolitan Rail Expansion Project (MREP) proposed by the Carr Labor government comes to mind, linking the North West Rail Link with the South West Rail Link via the Airport and East Hills Lines, but regrettably they also dropped the ball on this by not proceeding with it. Things could have been so different.

Having been involved in the planning of the Airport Line at the time, I can advise that there was an effort by Dept of Planning to secure a better alignment (including an additional station) between Central and Green Square, but the railway's engineers prevailed, citing geological issues. All I can say is that the metro engineers twenty years later didn't have a problem.

Regarding a SW-NW link through the city, resulting in additional capacity through the CBD, we now have that, but with a faster, more frequent, higher capacity and lower operating cost outcome. Things are different.

[Campbelltown busboy]

Having been involved in the planning of the Airport Line at the time, I can advise that there was an effort by Dept of Planning to secure a better alignment (including an additional station) between Central and Green Square, but the railway's engineers prevailed, citing geological issues. All I can say is that the metro engineers twenty years later didn't have a problem.

Regarding a SW-NW link through the city, resulting in additional capacity through the CBD, we now have that, but with a faster, more frequent, higher capacity and lower operating cost outcome. Things are different.

Just after the 2011 state election there where people that wanted to propose that the route of the NWRL would be altered to go via the Epping-Parramatta link and Northmead over the current NW metro route so both the then new Liberal NSW government and the Gillard labor federal government would get delivered promises

[Transtopic]

Just after the 2011 state election there where people that wanted to propose that the route of the NWRL would be altered to go via the Epping-Parramatta link and Northmead over the current NW metro route so both the then new Liberal NSW government and the Gillard labor federal government would get delivered promises

That's not my understanding of what was proposed. It was more a question of Gillard promising to allocate Federal funds to the Epping to Parramatta Rail Link to shore up support for the seats of Parramatta and Bennelong. It wasn't even on Infrastructure Australia's Priority List at the time. The North West Rail Link submission by the then new NSW LNP government was a separate issue.

[Transport Buff]

https://amp-smh-com-au.cdn.ampproject.o ... 5durm.html

Has been previously discussed...no comment

[lunchbox]

"GADIGAL" NAMING FOR TOWN HALL METRO STATION.
It's in the news again - Sydney Morning Herald, 9.8.23. Transport Minister Haylen is quoted as saying the naming is "still going through the Geographical Names Board process".
975530

[tonyp]

"GADIGAL" NAMING FOR TOWN HALL METRO STATION.
It's in the news again - Sydney Morning Herald, 9.8.23. Transport Minister Haylen is quoted as saying the naming is "still going through the Geographical Names Board process".
975530

The GNB says that their recommendation is with the Minister.

[Fleet Lists]

https://transportnsw.info/news/2023/tra ... stown-line

Trackwork on the T3 Bankstown Line
Thursday 24 August 2023

Parts of the T3 Bankstown Line, including some stations, will be closed from 23 September 2023 to Thursday 5 October 2023.

Bus services will replace trains during this time, with additional buses at peak times.

Train replacement bus services are Opal or contactless payment enabled.

You must tap on when boarding a replacement bus and tap off when arriving at your stop.
Replacement and alternative services

Saturday 23 September - Thursday 5 October

From Saturday 23 September to Thursday 5 October, buses replace trains between Lidcombe and Sydenham via Bankstown.
Trains run to a changed timetable between Liverpool and the City via Regents Park, and between Sydenham and the City.
For travel between Sydenham and Bankstown, use replacement bus routes:
10T3 All stops between Sydenham and Bankstown
33T3 Limited stops: Sydenham to Belmore, then all stops to Bankstown
13T3 Limited stops: Sydenham to Canterbury, then Campsie
For travel between Bankstown and Lidcombe, use replacement bus routes:
8T3 All stops between Bankstown and Lidcombe
8AT3 Express: Bankstown and Lidcombe

On Saturday 23 and 24 September 2023, buses also replace trains between Bankstown and Cabramatta. Use replacement bus routes:
14T3 – All stops between Bankstown and Cabramatta
15T3 – Express: Bankstown and Cabramatta

Plan ahead using the Trip Planner.

[Fleet Lists]

The above Transport for NSW info page seems to have disappeared.

[Glen]

That's odd, although it is still referenced here:

https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/system ... ckwork.pdf

[boronia]

Sydney Metro farms out jobs worth $2000 a day
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/syd ... 5e1vy.html

Sydney Metro is allowing senior managers to run private companies that recruit contractors to the agency on salaries well over $500,000 a year, as the state government searches for ways to rein in cost blowouts on its mega rail projects.

A Herald investigation has found scores of contracts to hire staff for Sydney Metro on more than $2000 per day. These and many other Metro contracts are conducted under “limited” tender conditions where the agency approaches a supplier or suppliers directly for services.
Sydney Metro is charged with delivering the country’s largest public transport project.

Sydney Metro is charged with delivering the country’s largest public transport project.Credit: NSW government

Permitting companies whose directors are senior managers at Sydney Metro to provide staff known as “professional services contractors” raises a potential conflict of interest due to their access to commercially sensitive information and fails the “pub test”, experts claim.

The two senior Sydney Metro managers’ companies have won $20 million worth of contracts in total since 2021, tender documents show.

They are among more than half a dozen companies whose directors worked in senior roles at Sydney Metro and have been awarded contracts to provide staff.

A small company founded by Sydney Metro utilities director Paul Rogers in 2014 – a year before he started working on Metro projects – has won $13.3 million worth of work since August 2021 to provide staff with pay rates ranging from about $280 to $390 an hour.
Sydney Metro interface management director Barry McGrattan (left) and utilities director Paul Rogers.

Sydney Metro interface management director Barry McGrattan (left) and utilities director Paul Rogers.Credit:

Six “professional services contractors” hired through Rogers’ Pro Consultants reported directly to him at Sydney Metro’s interface division, which is overseeing the $25 billion Metro West and $11 billion Metro Western Sydney Airport rail lines.

Sydney Metro interface management director Barry McGrattan is also the managing director of Bellgrove Advisory, which has won $6.6 million worth of work to provide about 10 staff for the agency.
Advertisement

Rogers and McGrattan had no involvement in Sydney Metro’s decision to award contracts to those companies, setting the salaries for those roles and they played no part in the project’s cost blowouts. The Herald does not suggest any wrongdoing on the part of Rogers and McGrattan.

One of those hires, James Hayward, is Sydney Metro’s interface management acting director, contracted on more than $600,000 a year, almost as much as the agency’s chief executive. He is the partner of Amanda Hayward, publisher of the bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey. The Herald also does not suggest any wrongdoing on the part of Hayward.
The construction site for the Parramatta metro station.

The construction site for the Parramatta metro station.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Quizzed about the arrangements concerning Rogers, McGrattan and Hayward during a NSW upper house inquiry into the government’s use of consultants, Sydney Metro chief finance and commercial officer Fiona Trussell said contractors and professional service providers were not in decision-making roles and did not have any delegated authority.

“They all report ultimately into government employees so their ability to hire and recruit people is not an authority that they have,” she said. “Those decision-making authorities sit with government employees within our delegation.”

The NSW Auditor-General raised concerns in a March report about government agencies hiring consultants, citing concerns about the way spending on contractors is reported publicly, and how agencies engage in contracts with them.

The rules that require most agencies to estimate the value of a contract – including any potential extensions and renewals – do not apply to Sydney Metro.

The cost of the Metro City and Southwest rail line between Chatswood and Bankstown via the CBD is almost double the original forecast at about $21.6 billion. NSW Premier Chris Minns has also cast doubt on the future of the Metro West line under construction between the CBD and Parramatta.
Paul Rogers with his team from Pro Consultants.

Paul Rogers with his team from Pro Consultants.Credit: LinkedIn

Rogers and McGrattan did not respond to questions about potential conflicts of interest or how much their companies earn from contracts to provide staff. Hayward also did not respond to questions.

Sources close to Sydney Metro who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are unauthorised to discuss the project with the media said companies providing staff to the agency can earn between 7.5 per and 12 per cent of the hourly rate of a contract’s value.

Critical accounting academic professor John Dumay said fees to provide contractors of about 10 to 12 per cent of the contract value was “about right”.

Dumay, who ran his own consultancy business and worked as a management consultant before moving to academia, said Sydney Metro allowing managers to bid via private companies to provide contracted staff did not pass the “pub test”.

“When you bring in these labour hire companies and/or consultants, we ultimately lose transparency because there’s no legal obligation for any of these companies to disclose anything publicly,” he said.

Centre for Public Integrity director Geoffrey Watson, SC, said Sydney Metro managers whose private companies were bidding for work from the agency might have access to information other bidders didn’t.

“I’m astonished that this would be allowed,” he said.

“It is just a minefield of ethical concerns in so far as there are obviously potential conflicts of interest. [They] aren’t measured by the outcome – they are measured by the potential.”

Former NSW auditor-general Tony Harris said the private companies of senior managers at Sydney Metro winning contracts with the agency raises potential conflict of interest issues. “It is so obviously not on that it doesn’t require much thought,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Transport Minister Jo Haylen said “procurement and delivery models for Sydney Metro overseen by the previous Liberal government” have caused cost overruns on metro projects.

“The engagement of contractors should be a short-term solution. The government is concerned about the long-term use of contractors, especially if they are being used for longer engagements better suited to public sector roles,” the spokesperson said.

Sydney Metro did not answer specific questions about why it allows senior managers to use their own companies to tender for contracts, how many professional services contractors it uses, their cost, or if it has investigated these arrangements, but said “the procurement of contractors and consultants was wholly managed by government employees”.

“Contractors have no authority (decision-making rights) to approve the engagement of other contractors or variations/extensions to contractors,” it said.

“Due to the size and complexity of our projects, there will always be a need for specialist input and contractors to supplement our workforce, including on a part-time basis.”

The agency said it requires all consultants to complete a “statement of interests and associations” declaring professional and personal interests. They manage conflict of interest risk through governance structures and take appropriate action when required.

One contract for “project management services for Sydney Metro West” worth $639,540 runs for 12 months from May this year and was evaluated by the “tenderer’s candidate’s availability, capacity and capability”.

Another tender worth $1,288,320 over two years and three months for “project management services” was judged on the tenderer’s “candidate and price”.

Greens treasury spokeswoman Abigail Boyd said when key management roles were outsourced to consultants, who then benefit from critical information that they could use to win more work, potential conflicts of interest arise.

“Once you allow consultants to be embedded into a government agency, they become extraordinarily difficult to extract. The agency becomes so reliant on the individual that it drives up that individual’s bargaining powers,” Boyd, a former UBS investment banker, said.

[Swift]

A couple of things particularly stand out as red flags among many in that piece.

The rules that require most agencies to estimate the value of a contract – including any potential extensions and renewals – do not apply to Sydney Metro.

So basically open slather for pigs in the trough.

Rogers and McGrattan did not respond to questions about potential conflicts of interest or how much their companies earn from contracts to provide staff. Hayward also did not respond to questions.

Says it all to me.

It is claimed that the contractors ultimately have no authority in decisions, but we know strings do get pulled and it's about who you know.

Having senior management get contracts awarded to their own external companies and think it's a nothing to see here, is absurd and shows the horrifying standards of corporate conduct in this country.

[Transtopic]

A couple of things particularly stand out as red flags among many in that piece.

The rules that require most agencies to estimate the value of a contract – including any potential extensions and renewals – do not apply to Sydney Metro.

So basically open slather for pigs in the trough.

Having senior management get contracts awarded to their own external companies and think it's a nothing to see here, is absurd and shows the horrifying standards of corporate conduct in this country.

Sydney Metro in particular is a rogue agency within the Transport for NSW cluster and appears to have overriding control over Sydney's broader rail network, subjugating the far larger Sydney Trains network, which up till recently since the review, didn't get a say.

It's just been reported that bureaucrats within Sydney Metro, or were they highly paid consultants, had recommended that all stations on the T3 Line west of Bankstown to Cabramatta and Lidcombe following opening of the metro should be permanently closed, leaving them without a rail service. What business is it of theirs to make recommendations affecting the broader rail network when it is outside their remit? Thankfully, the previous government declined to accept their advice. Notwithstanding that, it just goes to show the kind of thinking that exists within Sydney Metro, where they think they rule the roost. It's time that they were brought to heel.

Overall rail planning should be the responsibility of Transport for NSW planners, if they even exist, and not Sydney Metro, which would obviously be biased in supporting their own narrow agenda.

[tonyp]

Looking at the disrupted, on again, off again inceptions of various new metro and light rail systems around the world, thank goodness TfNSW has a strong, determined metro agency that's obviously rich with talent (something that they would have to dip into both the public and private sectors to assemble). They do have a task that extends beyond the narrow confines of metro lines on their own, because their role is to restructure the overall mostly-radial rail network into a grid that serves Sydney's future planning direction, with suburban and metro networks complementing each other. You can't do that with just a limited, siloed brief of the tasks involved. All power to them that they embrace the suburban system in their planning.

I wouldn't worry about that Cabramatta-Lidcombe thought bubble. I know that light rail has also been examined for that corridor in the past. They would be working through all sorts of options, but that's one that won't happen for now, merely by virtue of that corridor having to carry the Liverpool line until such time as the Bankstown metro is extended to Liverpool. The present low local patronage on the line is something that urban planners will doubtless examine with view to exploiting any opportunity for future development, including whether the level of development will justify light rail or heavy rail.

[Transtopic]

Sydney Metro and Sydney/NSW Trains are separate agencies within the TfNSW cluster and overall responsibility for rail planning should be with TfNSW bureaucrats. The recent interim review recommended that Sydney Trains should be consulted when decisions are being made about the network and that the CEO should report directly to the Secretary of TfNSW and the Minister. That seems like a perfectly logical line of authority to me. Delegating responsibility for rail planning to Sydney Metro would be akin to Dracula in charge of the blood bank, because they're going to be biased in favour of promoting their own agenda at the expense of logical upgrades to the Sydney Trains network. Ideally, the whole rail network should brought under the control of a single agency as it once was.

[alleve]

Appears something is happening with Sydney Metro. I saw three out of service metro trains running southbound from Chatswood into the tunnels at roughly 11am. Then at 3pm the Marrickville yard was empty. Daytime testing?

[Stu]

Regarding the recent announcement about the anticipated long shutdown (12 months) of the T3 line which is expected to commence sometime between July and October 2024, Sydney Metro executives briefed the state government about the planned shutdown with details of the temporary transport plan to be released to the public much closer to the actual shutdown in 2024.

I was reading some older documents which displayed the proposed routes for the temporary transport plan.


GHD Report. Sydenham to Bankstown Temporary Transport Strategy.
Version 3.0 28/8/2017.
Appendix A. Page 33.
https://majorprojects.planningportal.ns ... .989%20GMT

* There is a table that outlines an all stops service from Lidcombe to Sydenham via Bankstown although this is not displayed in the maps.

1) Lidcombe to Bankstown (all stations).
2) Bankstown to Sydenham (all stations).
3) Bankstown, Punchbowl, Wiley Park, Lakemba and then express to Sydenham.
4) Belmore, Campsie, Canterbury and then express to Sydenham.
5) Hurlstone Park, Dulwich Hill, Marrickville & Sydenham.

Revised.
1) Lidcombe to Bankstown (all stations). (no change)
2) Bankstown to Sydenham (all stations). (no change)
3) Hurlstone Park, Dulwich Hill, Marrickville & Sydenham. (no change)
4) Campsie, Canterbury and then express to Sydenham.
5) Bankstown express to Padstow. (T3 to T8)
6) Punchbowl express to Riverwood. (T3 to T8)
7) Wiley Park express to Narwee. (T3 to T8)
8 ) Lakemba express to Beverley Hills. (T3 to T8)
9) Belmore express to Kingsgrove. (T3 to T8)


AECOM. Sydney Metro City & Southwest Sydenham to Bankstown upgrade – Technical Paper 1 - Traffic, Transport and Access.
Revision 1 – 29/8/2017.
Page 355.
https://www.sydneymetro.info/sites/defa ... Report.pdf

[alleve]

https://www.railexpress.com.au/first-tr ... -sydenham/

Testing ramping up. There are now six metro trains stabled at Marrickville

[gascoyne]

Cabview to Sydenham is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE-iLJ9ZSUY

[boronia]

Article in the Herald today about Waterloo station.

[Swift]

Cabview to Sydenham is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE-iLJ9ZSUY

Sydney's Tube.

[boxythingy]

‘We haven’t got the drivers’: Bus replacement for 12-month rail closure to cause chaos
ByMatt O'Sullivan
January 8, 2024 — 5.00am

Sydney does not have enough bus drivers or buses to run the additional 1400 services needed every weekday to replace trains when a busy suburban rail line is shut for a year, a member of the government’s industry taskforce has warned.

Amid a chronic shortage of drivers and fears of worsening road congestion, replacement buses will have to carry up to 60,000 passengers each weekday during the 12-month shutdown of the rail line between Bankstown and Sydenham from as early as July to allow it to be converted to handle driverless metro trains.

Bankstown line commuters will be forced into the nightmare of catching replacement buses along gridlocked roads.
Bankstown line commuters will be forced into the nightmare of catching replacement buses along gridlocked roads.CREDIT:EDWINA PICKLES

Rail, Tram and Bus Union divisional secretary David Babineau said the T3 Bankstown line’s closure was “poorly considered and ill timed”, warning that it would create a greater shortage of drivers in Sydney, which already needed up to 300 recruits to plug vacancies.

“We haven’t got drivers, and we haven’t got enough buses,” he said.

Babineau, who is a member of the state government’s bus industry taskforce, said the extra drivers and buses needed during the line’s closure would put pressure on a labour market that was already “as tight as hell”, and would have far-reaching consequences for Sydney’s transport services.


“At the moment, operators by and large are failing to meet existing timetable requirements because there are not enough drivers,” he said.

A spokesperson for Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the line’s closure would be disruptive and inconvenient for passengers, but the government’s temporary transport plan would deliver a range of options, including bus, train and metro services to get passengers to their destinations.

“There will never be an ideal time to do the Sydenham to Bankstown conversion,” the spokesman said. “We’re working to minimise the disruption as much as possible.”

The Bankstown line’s conversion has been the most troubled part of the $21.6 billion Metro City and Southwest project, which extends from Chatswood, under Sydney Harbour and the CBD to Sydenham and onto Bankstown.

A new train timetable will also be introduced in the middle of the year to incorporate the main section of the Metro City and Southwest line into the broader rail network, and support the Bankstown line’s 12-month closure.


Canterbury-Bankstown independent councillor Barbara Coorey, who has long opposed the conversion of the line, said disruption to commuters from its closure would ripple across Sydney’s transport network.

“They don’t have the buses, and they don’t have the bus drivers,” she said. “The idea of shutting one of the busiest lines in Sydney makes no sense.


“It is already chock-a-block during morning and evening peak hour. There are going to be a lot of angry commuters. It will be a nightmare.”

The 13-kilometre stretch of the Bankstown line to be converted cuts through Haylen’s Summer Hill electorate, as well as Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis’ seat of Canterbury and Customer Service Minister Jihad Dib’s electorate of Bankstown.

Ahead of the 12-month shutdown, the rail line is being closed for a month – from December 27 to January 25 – as well as for two weeks from April 13 to 28.

As part of plans for the shutdown, trains running between Liverpool and the CBD via Bankstown will instead travel via Regents Park and Lidcombe.

Regents Park will become the main interchange point for passengers switching between the two Bankstown line branches.

Commuters using Erskineville and St Peters stations will continue to get direct services to the CBD via the T8 Airport and South line.

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[Glen]

That second last paragraph has me puzzled.

[Swift]

12 months of being angry and outraged will be replaced by how wonderful and modern this reopened line is and how it was worth the wait.

Sound bites in a Seven News report on the opening "oh yes worth the wait " "it's Fantastic!!" "I have to pinch myself it's like a dream" all that jazz followed by "Robert Ovadia Seven News".

[Swift]

Just after posting I caught an actual Seven News report on the upcoming bustitution of the line. Most passengers are not tapping on the buses and drivers told not to challenge the freeloaders.
The RTBU wants the closure delayed due to the aforementioned issues with the buses in the article above.

[Linto63]

That second last paragraph has me puzzled.

It's an error, Erskineville and St Peters will be served by T4 services making additional stops. A shake up of the line numbers is on the cards, with one suggestion being that the T3 designation will be used for all stops services from Hurstville that will operate via the City Circle in lieu of the Eastern Suburbs line and T6 resurrected for the Bankstown to Lidcombe service.