It turns out that the long awaited Parramatta Road Light Rail project will no longer come to fruition as it has been scrapped by the NSW Government, according to a recent article on the Sydney Morning Herald by Jacob Saulwick.
It was expected that the route would begin in Burwood then go along the Parramatta Road corridor with a total 17 stops (18 if the starting station is included) which would have begun at Burwood Station, then gone along Parramatta Road & then finish at Museum Station in the CBD.
The proposed stops for the Parramatta Road Light Rail are:
- Burwood Station
- Burwood Road at Parramatta Road
- William Street, Five Dock
- Great North Road, Croydon
- Bland Street, Ashfield
- St Davids Road/Ormond Street, Ashfield
- Flood Street, Leichhardt
- Norton/Crystal st, Leichhardt
- Johnson Street, Stanmore
- Pyrmont Bridge Road, Stanmore
- Missenden Road, Camperdown
- Ross Street, Glebe
- Derwent Street, Glebe
- Broadway at Mountain Street
- Broadway at Railway Parade
- Darling Harbour
- Bathurst/Liverpool Street
- Museum Station
The purpose of this light rail was to allow a better public transport system for the extra 50,000 residents that would be moving into the Parramatta Road corridor over the next decade. Another factor for the infrastructure development was the Westconnex motorway, as it is currently being built & its purpose is to funnel traffic away from Parramatta Road & into its tunnel, especially those motorists looking to get into the city from Sydney’s western suburbs.
Now that there project looks to be scrapped & on the shelf for an undisclosed period of time, the transport infrastructure from Burwood to the CBD along the road may potentially get severely congested as more & more residents move into its ever increasing density levels.
However, it should be taken into account that Parramatta road is a major arterial road in Sydney servicing the inner west & would still be busy even with the Westconnex project being built. The closure of lanes during construction would have potentially caused traffic chaos but with that said an alternative plan should be looked into in order to serve the higher densities that will strain these inner city suburbs.
As of now, this project does not affect any other current light rail system include the CBD to Eastern Suburbs & the Parramatta Light Rail projects.
