Private plans for light rail to revive Sydney’s Parramatta Road

ABC NEWS (Australia)

It is one of Sydney’s most maligned thoroughfares, and now there is another plan to revitalise Parramatta Road. A group of companies want to build a light rail along the busy transport corridor, and it has the backing of Sydney’s Lord Mayor.

Transcript

00:00The unsightly arterial road has attracted an unfortunate nickname, Sydney's Varicose

00:08Vein.

00:09Most of the shops here are closed and it's tired and dead and it's the main gateway into

00:13the city so it's not a very good advertisement for Sydney.

00:16And it has some powerful detractors.

00:19When you drive down Parramatta Road you think is that the best we can do?

00:24And yet plans to revive Parramatta Road have a history of going nowhere, including in 2013

00:30This is the State Government's vision.

00:32And 2017.

00:33The Inner West Council now says it has a $200 million solution.

00:37The latest proposal is from Alltrack, the consortium that built the CBD and South East

00:42Light Rail.

00:43The line would start at Tavernas Hill in the Inner West and run along Parramatta Road to

00:47connect with Central Station before passing through Redfern, Waterloo and Zetland to reach

00:52Green Square.

00:53You don't see how Sydney buses are, they're not quite consistent around here.

00:58So probably Light Rail is going to be much more reliable.

01:01Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore is proposing her council stump up $100 million for the

01:06project.

01:07Successive governments have talked about the renaissance of Parramatta Road and done nothing.

01:11The plan's proponents say it would help the State Government address the shortage of homes

01:15in Sydney by encouraging the development of high-density housing along Parramatta Road.

01:21The Premier told a room full of developers he wasn't interested.

01:24We've got a very big transport infrastructure program but it's expensive.

01:30That's despite Alltrack's offer to pay the upfront building costs.

01:33And then the NSW Government would pay when the services are actually up and running.

01:37That would lock us into a contract for many years with one supplier.

01:42The Government putting the brakes on the idea.

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