[SydneyDude]

Expected to reach its first stage of completion in 2015, the North West Rail Link will link Epping to Rouse Hill, with the possibility of connecting to Vineyard Station some time in the future. It was planned to go from Epping to Beecroft station, before going underground towards Castle Hill, but this week it was announced that it will go undergound immediately from Epping, bypassing Beecroft all together.

It will be 22km long, including a 16km tunnel from Epping to Burns Road Station. It will include 6 new stations, 4 of which will be underground.

Check it out @ http://www.tidc.nsw.gov.au/Documents/1175_planupdate3.pdf

I think this is spot on. Heavy rail is the answer to Sydney's urban sprawl, bring it on biatches!!

 

[Randwicked]

Expected to reach its first stage of completion in 2015, the North West Rail Link will link Epping to Rouse Hill, with the possibility of connecting to Vineyard Station some time in the future. It was planned to go from Epping to Beecroft station, before going underground towards Castle Hill, but this week it was announced that it will go undergound immediately from Epping, bypassing Beecroft all together.

It will be 22km long, including a 16km tunnel from Epping to Burns Road Station. It will include 6 new stations, 4 of which will be underground.

Check it out @ http://www.tidc.nsw.gov.au/Documents/1175_planupdate3.pdf

I think this is spot on. Heavy rail is the answer to Sydney's urban sprawl, bring it on biatches!!

16km, plus the 10-12km of the E-C line that this will feed into without reaching the surface. That must be just about the longest tunnel in Australia.

 

[SydneyDude]

16km, plus the 10-12km of the E-C line that this will feed into without reaching the surface. That must be just about the longest tunnel in Australia.

That is true- It will be 28 kilometers of continuous tunnel, with 8 underground stations in a row- will be a real 'metro' experience, hopefully the service will be a metro standard.

NWRL and EC tunnels combined will be more than half the length of the English Channel tunnel! lol

 

[SydneyDude]

in fact it will be the worlds 4th longest tunnel (North West Rail tunnel and Epping to Chatswood Tunnel combined), or the NWRL tunnel alone will be approximately the worlds 14th longest tunnel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_longest_tunnels

 

[SYDNEYAHOLIC]

What about if combined with the new harbour rail link and then the metro west/ pitt st underground under the city?

The harbour link will connect to the Epping-Chatswood rail link right?

 

[Muse]

The harbour link will connect to the Epping-Chatswood rail link right?

If constructed, the Harbour Crossing goes into & out of St Leonards - well, that's the plan so far. Whether or not trains would continue onto & from the already constructed tracks for Epping would be for the future to behold. Maybe someone knows more on it though.

So the North-West Rail link is back on the tracks again, new & revised? It was derailed only a couple of years ago. I'm starting to sound like a bad commercial news report.

I've got the initial brochure from the early 2000s somewhere. Must find it for comparative purposes.

Thanks Sydneydude for the info. kay:

PS lol @ "bring it on biatches!!". "Mean Girls" was on TV last night.

 

[MPJK]

2015 is so far away. I'm glad it's being encouraged but 8 years of waiting seems like forever! After this line is built, I wonder which other area in Sydney will receive a train line.

 

[snowboard99]

It was announced in the last few weeks or months of Bob Carr's time and has been in planning and assessment ever since. Supposed to start construction in 2009 to open in 2 stages, 2015 to castle hill and 2017 to rouse hill.

I was looking at the master plan for rouse hill and will be an excellent development when it has a train station, the town centre shopping centre is spread out on a single level focused along main street with apartments above the shops, not like your traditional shopping centre.

Time will tell if people can abandon their cars there, in theory they would be able to but the habits are entrenched up there. All local needs walking distance, employment at norwest or city via train, tway to parramatta if they wanted something from there.

I have similar hopes for Edmondson park in the south west and Leppington, however the rest of the release areas further away from the train stations are doomed to car dependence.

 

[zulu69]

I'm sick of talk. Want some action.
Now that's out of the way, 2015 isn't that far away actually so if this will go ahead then i'll be one happy chappy. Seriously if/when this does get built, Sydney will have a fab PT and transport system in place. The suburban upgrades and the servicing of the west CBD side will no doubt bolster the system. The orbital, another harbour tunnel and widening of vic rd will make the roads more than capable too. So amazingly from my dire fears 3 years ago to extreme optimism, not bad at all. Now if only a line out to the East and North Shore would go ahead then Sydney would have a world class train system in terms of coverage.
From what i have read, it seems that the metro will come after this. Prob servicing the city and it's immediate surroundings. Not bad at all.

 

[Muse]

19 other PDF files on the project have been added to http://www.tidc.nsw.gov.au/ArticlePage.aspx?PageID=1146

Preferred Project Report for the North West Rail Link

TIDC has recently completed a Preferred Project Report for the proposed North West Rail Link.

The Preferred Project Report provides responses to issues raised in submissions received during the public exhibition of the environmental assessment. It also includes information about the additional studies undertaken since the environmental assessment was placed on public exhibition, and provides details on proposed modifications to the concept plan.

The Preferred Project Report is on public exhibition from Wednesday 6 June to Monday 9 July 2007. Further information is available on the Environment page of this site.

Volume 1 is the main report and Volume 2 contains the maps and graphics associated with the report.

A CD version of this report can be requested by contacting the Project Infoline on 1800 684 490 or emailing [email protected].

...

 

[Muse]

What about if combined with the new harbour rail link and then the metro west/ pitt st underground under the city?

The harbour link will connect to the Epping-Chatswood rail link right?

BTW http://www.tidc.nsw.gov.au/ViewSite.aspx?PageID=559 - it does mention "from Redfern to Chatswood".

 

[LanceDriver]

it's so far away and we need so many more train lines than this, we need a real criss-cross metro. most of our line coverage is from almost 100 years ago with only few additions. meanwhile sydney has grown and expanded so much!

 

[Fabian]

2015 is so far away. I'm glad it's being encouraged but 8 years of waiting seems like forever! After this line is built, I wonder which other area in Sydney will receive a train line.

It is too long. It should of been built in 1995, before people made the area their home.

There is also the south west rail link, linking up the new estates of Leppington and Edmondson Park to the Southern and East Hills lines at Glenfield.

From what i know, it will be built in a similar timeframe to the North West rail link. At the moment, they are finalising the route and arranging for accqusitions for property.

 

[Fabian]

And here's the route

 

[Randwicked]

^^ That map should have a busway from Burns Rd to Blacktown as well. When this busway is completed there will be fairly decent cross-connectivity between the major centres of the Northwest, even more so if/when the T-ways are converted to light rail.

 

[smeghead]

At the moment, its the section along Sunnyholt Rd (Blacktown to Parklea) that's going to be a full blown dedicated busway.

The section between Parklea and Castle Hill is going to be an interim measure until NWRL will be in place (since it parallels part of the NWRL alignment anyway), so I wouldn't expect too much money to go into it, other than queue jumps at traffic signals and small (< $1m) projects.

 

[cammo2004]

^^ That map should have a busway from Burns Rd to Blacktown as well. When this busway is completed there will be fairly decent cross-connectivity between the major centres of the Northwest, even more so if/when the T-ways are converted to light rail.

That would be my fault. I missed it completely. I noticed it in the UBD just after I'd uploaded the picture to ImageShack. Is it still going ahead? because I've not heard anything about that for a while...

 

[James]

major work has already occured along sunnyholt road. they have done major earthworks to the east of the road, and have started to build the over bridges from memory.

 

[Joelby]

If constructed, the Harbour Crossing goes into & out of St Leonards - well, that's the plan so far. Whether or not trains would continue onto & from the already constructed tracks for Epping would be for the future to behold. Maybe someone knows more on it though.

That's what I thought, but they'd better at least duplicate the track between Chatswood and St Leonards, that way they can eventually designate an entirely new line from Rouse Hill to Redfern without interrupting the schedules of other lines. Would be cool if they made it al tunnel, though. Underground from The Hills to Redfern would be amazing.

From what i have read, it seems that the metro will come after this. Prob servicing the city and it's immediate surroundings. Not bad at all.

I thought there was a rumour recently that they are looking into the River Metro line being built. As I've said in another thread, I really hope they use completely new rolling stock, and platforms with glass doors that open to let people onto trains just like Hong Kong. Infact, get them in to just copy their system into the new line.

 

[BroadGauge]

And what would the point be of maintaining a special train fleet and glass doors on the platforms? The only real need for the latter is at massively overcrowded stations, and that should be alleviated in other ways.