The Snowy River scheme was a venture by the Federal government in partnership with New South Wales and Victoria and now the Feds are becoming the major player in a stand alone network that will opene up east coast electricity generation when they buy out the states and take sole control of building what is termed " Snowy 2.0 ".
Snowy 2.0 involves the construction of new tunnels to allow water to be pumped back up hill. When demand for electricity is low, this power will be used to pump water back to a higher level to enable longer demand to be met at peak times. New South Wales is salivating at the prospect of receiving a four billion dollar refund cheque to pay out its equity in the original venture.
The state premier has unequivocally promised that this largesse will not be spent on Sydney projects and will be specifically ear marked for use in the rest of the state. The bulk of the dividend from the sale of our electricity interest in poles and wires financed the introduction of the massive upgrade of the Sydney road system and the installation of rail improvements, including a new stand alone network that is servicing forgotten areas. The bulk of the money was spent in Sydney and this new bonanza for country New South Wales will have rural councils lining up with projects needing attention.
Heading the list will be the cities of Wollongong and Shellharbour and their surrounding Illawarra geographical area. Their need is a rail tunnel through the escarpment to enable a fast rail link to Sydney. Sydney is just eighty kilometres away, and the existing rail line has to climb the escarpment and takes one and half hours for the journey.
The existing line was constructed with horse and cart, pick and shovel methods in the early eighteen hundreds and landslips force closure after even moderate rain. It twists and turns and needs to bridge deep gorges, imposing slow speed limits. At present both heavy goods trains and commuter traffic have to share this tortuous line.
It seems certain that this demand for a tunnel through the escarpment will include the restoration of work on the half finished Maldon-Dombarton rail link. The thirty-five miles stretch of new line would enable goods traffic to be diverted from Wollongong to western Sydney and allow commuter traffic to have precedence on the Wollongong-Sydney link.
This is essential if the potential of the south coast is ever to be realised. The coastal settlements stretching to the Victorian border have an inadequate road link and lack a rail service. The ever growing population numbers make these improvements a necessity.
No doubt other state areas will have projects with an urgency rating and the state government will need to share this unexpected dividend widely. There are very good reasons why that rail tunnel through the escarpment should take precedence. It is the major obstacle preventing the growing south coast from providing a reliable commuter stream to divert pressure on new housing in metropolitan Sydney. The existing line can not be upgraded and improved to obtain speed.
When a pot of gold is waiting to be spent, the horse trading to obtain a share will be intense. Let us hope it is not divided too widely, and the benefits dissipated to the point of irrelevance. That would be opportunity sadly wasted.
No comments:
Post a Comment