The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, is facing increasing pressure from within his own party to commit to building Sydney’s Metro West rail line, as a federal Labor MP whose electorate stands to benefit from the rail line pleads for commitment to the project.
Andrew Charlton, the MP for the federal seat of Parramatta, said the project – for which tunnel boring and land acquisitions have already progressed – was essential given the projected growth of western Sydney.
“Parramatta is right at the heart of greater Sydney, and it’s the gateway to western Sydney. Building the metro in Parramatta just makes sense,” Charlton told Guardian Australia.
Charlton said a growing number of Australia’s top businesses and organisations are opening offices in Parramatta, including Westpac, the ABC and KPMG.
“But we need the transport infrastructure to make this boom sustainable,” Charlton said. “To keep Parramatta’s growth on track, Metro West needs to happen.”
In recent days, Minns has cast doubt over the future of the metro line connecting Sydney’s western suburbs with the east and entertained questions about axing the project entirely, as he insists he will not let its ballooning bill “destroy the budget”.
Minns has resisted committing to the Metro West project as he awaits the findings of a review into the line due to a cost overrun by $17bn to a total of $25bn, claiming he only learned of the latest cost projection since taking office. He had pledged support for the project in the lead-up to the March election.
Last week Minns flagged delays to the 2030 opening timeframe promised by the previous Coalition government, as well as potentially adding in extra stations on the line between the Sydney CBD and Westmead.
Donna Davis, the state Labor MP for Parramatta, on Wednesday said Metro West was “a project our community needs”, while acknowledging the government’s review process was “completely understandable”.
The government has received an interim report of the independent review into the Metro West and Sydney’s other metro rail projects, but it is yet to be released.
The NSW treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, on Thursday suggested a decision on the future of Metro West could be delayed even beyond the state budget in September.
Cate Faehrmann, the Greens’ transport and western Sydney spokesperson, said cancelling the project would be a “massive betrayal” of residents in the west.
“This is a massive broken promise by Chris Minns and western Sydney won’t forgive him if he goes ahead and cancels the Metro West,” said Faehrmann.
“It’s incomprehensible that the government would choose not to complete a major transport project that is already under way, which has cost taxpayers $8bn so far, and forced people and businesses to be uprooted through compulsory acquisition.”
Faehrmann echoed concerns from the Sydney lord mayor, Clover Moore, as well as the Coalition opposition and developers, that axing or delaying the metro line would affect new housing on the key growth corridor.
The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) said abandoning or delaying the line would “leave residents of western Sydney stranded from public transport”.
“Halting major projects like the Sydney Metro West line mid-construction, with tunnel boring already in full swing, is going to cost the NSW taxpayer more in the long run and have significant negative impacts on sustainable growth,” said the ARA’s chief executive, Caroline Wilkie.
The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, has said there is an “urgent need” for housing now in Sydney and that any delay to Metro West would delay development.
Meanwhile, developer landholders along the Metro West corridor have come out saying they are willing to contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to build new stations along the line in exchange for being allowed to build thousands of extra homes surrounding the stations.
The planned Metro West project is a 24km rail line moving up to 40,000 people an hour in each direction from the newly built Hunter Street station in the CBD through Parramatta, Olympic Park and to Westmead, and has been touted as a way to alleviate pressure on the busy western line of the city’s train network.
