Awaiting the reality !

This week it seemed that the wildest dreams of Sydney's long suffering western commuters were about to come true.  Premier Mike Baird announced that a $3.7 billion contract had been let for the first stage of the Sydney Rapid Transport Metro - between Chatswood and Rouse Hill.

This Utopian project calls for driverless trains to run every five minutes at peak and at mere ten minute intervals in off-peak and weekends.  There will be no need for a timetable - and commuters will simply "hop on and ride ".  This plan expects that on time running will achieve 98% efficiency. The starting time for this first section - is 2019.

Unfortunately, past grand plans for rail improvements have delivered far less than the bonanza promised, and this is just the first step in in an $8.3 billion attempt to link Sydney's ever expanding west with the city CBD.  A later stage will involve a second harbour tunnel crossing to bring this rail line into the CBD and then an extension to the west to link it to Bankstown.

Critics point out the incompatibility between this metro and the rest of the Sydney rail network.  The SRT route will accommodate single deck carriages and the rest of our rail system is double decked.  There is no prospect of ever combining the two because the tunnelling involved will only cater for single deck trains.

The planners dismiss this because they contend that the Metro is a fast way of moving people between two points while the existing rail system connects multiple areas and many individual lines and could never be adapted to driverless trains.   The Metro brings rail to areas that previously relied on the bus network and is an entirely new concept for the mass movement of people.

The lack of a driver or guard will raise safety questions in the minds of some people, but we are in an age of automation - and even driverless cars now seem likely to become reality.  One of the factors of this SRT is the fact that it is a single divided system and does not involve the integration of passenger and freight services, as is normal on most rail systems.   Some express the notion of a Metro as a series of "shuttle cars " which automatically stop at each station - load or disburse passengers - in a similar manner to an elevator in a high rise building.    We accept automated elevators without question.

Obviously this SRT will be under video surveillance to ensure passenger safety and be regularly patrolled by Transit  Police.   Personal safety for those travelling late at night will be no different from the existing system - but a faster response should be possible if the trains video system is linked to police stations along the route travelled.

Over decades many rail plans have been announced and then abandoned because of lack of money.  In this instance, a contract has been let - and work has begun.  No doubt there will be unexpected contingencies that arise with a project of this magnitude and both costs and the time frame may prove to be elastic - but there is a very good chance that when 2019 rolls around we may actually have a working rail line connecting Chatswood and Rouse Hill - and a Sydney Metro will be a reality.

The residents of Sydney's west can only hope !