I was going to devote my second article on Sydney Metro West to the implications of Labor’s promise to scrap the Sydenham to Bankstown section of the Sydney Metro City and South West (Metro CSW). However, the question of station spacing along the Metro West corridor has been raised in responses to my last post, in particular the large distance between stations on certain segments of the line. This raises some interesting issues around station location planning, so I’ll defer my review of Labor’s policy and look at these first.

Background

Metros, subways, call them what you will, were first constructed in 19th and early 20th century inner cities in Europe and America to connect key destinations such as railway termini and to provide a congestion-free alternative to road transport. Consequently, the first metro stations were usually very closely spaced, often only two or three hundred metres apart.

Over time dense networks of lines and stations were developed in many of these centres. While this provided a very efficient and effective form of transport there were some downsides as both cities and networks expanded. Many systems experienced overcrowding and with such closely-spaced stations average speeds dropped considerably on longer journeys as lines were extended.

Later metro systems started to be constructed with wider-spaced stations, partly in response to these issues. Maximum walk-up catchment for a metro or other rapid transit stop came to be generally regarded as around 800 metres (this is a gross simplification of this issue – see these articles by Jarrett Walker, Alon Levy and Alan Davies for further discussion).

Suburban railways have always tended to have more widely spaced stops, though initially development was also confined to walkable distances from these stations. Transport planners also have to juggle many other factors which influence station location. These include geographic and geological constraints, the location of key centres, catchment population numbers and densities and, increasingly, the presence of other infrastructure such as older rail and motorway tunnels.

Several cities are now building metro lines with even wider station spacing. Some cities which already have legacy metro networks with closely-spaced stations such as Paris and London are constructing new lines to provide limited-stop express services within their city centres, as well as to connect to outer suburbs and major destinations such as airports.

Urban centres which are constructing metro systems from scratch have different imperatives. They are, generally, newer cities with suburban sprawl and lower densities. Some like many Chinese cities have access to resources which have allowed them to quickly construct literally dozens of lines, often surpassing the networks of older urban centres in terms of coverage and station numbers, albeit over greater distances.

Other cities like Sydney are constrained by limited resources and high construction costs, not to mention topography and a historic disposition in favour of motorway construction. This means there is often a temptation to try to make the resources provided intermittently for new public transport infrastructure meet a wide array of often-incompatible needs, while governments look for ways to reduce and share costs.

Consequently, metro routes and station locations are often chosen less for their potential to service established residential areas or even major traffic generators but rather for their capacity to support high-density development. There are long stretches of track without stations and even when stops are located closer together the spacing will still often exceed the walk-up catchment.

Nowhere are these characteristics more evident than in the planning for the combined 66km-long Sydney Metro North West and City and South East line, which is trying to do all things at once. The proposed Sydney Metro West is of a more modest length, but it shares many of the same characteristics while also being required to provide a second, faster route between Parramatta and the CBD.

Plugging the gap

The Government’s imperative for speed means it has proposed a fairly direct route for Sydney Metro West with a spacing average of 2.5 to 3 kilometres between stations. This is broadly consistent with the average spacing on the Metro North West currently under construction and planned in the newer section of the Metro City and South West.

The overall spacing of stations along the line is only part of the story. The proposed stations on the Metro West line are organised in three clusters – Westmead to Camellia/Rydalmere, Sydney Olympic Park (SOP) to Kings Bay/Five Dock and Bays Precinct to the CBD – within which there is an average spacing of roughly 2 kilometres. However, between each of these three clusters there are much larger gaps of around five kilometres.

In part this is due to a desire to limit station numbers and concentrate them in priority locations to reduce travel time between Parramatta and the CBD to under 25 minutes – five minutes less than the current fastest journey by rail. There is also an argument that a station is not needed between Camellia/Rydalmere and SOP given the area’s topography, current low level of development and potential to be served by the Parramatta Light rail.

However, the gap between Kings Bay/Five Dock and the Bays Precinct is much harder to justify. This is an established area with increasing residential densities reliant on congested road networks. While it is well supported by buses and in some locations light rail, these services are crowded in peak hour and in the case of buses affected by congestion.

These are arguments Transport for NSW has used to justify the proposed stations at Burwood North, Kings Bay and/or Five Dock, so it’s hard to see why a similar case hasn’t been made to include this area for investigation as an intermediate station precinct. An additional stop in this segment would increase travel times by only a couple of minutes, provided the route length is not significantly increased. Some options include:

• Callan Park Rozelle: In a direct line between Five Dock and the Bays Precinct the halfway point at 2.5km lies on the western edge of the former psychiatric hospital at Callan Park, currently home to the Sydney College of the Arts. While the University of Sydney is scheduled to abandon this site in 2019 and its future is uncertain, this is an unlikely candidate for a metro station given heritage protection issues and its relative isolation from major centres and transport routes.
• Darling Street/Victoria Road Rozelle: A station added here on a more northern route would service both Rozelle and Balmain and provide the opportunity for an interchange with bus services on Victoria Road. It is however less than 1.5km from the Bays Precinct. Ironically this site was nominated as the terminus for the previous Labor Government’s ill-fated CBD metro. According to media reports the current government is planning to use the site acquired for this purpose as a key entrance for the construction of the Western Harbour motorway tunnel. The proximity of this tunnel may rule this site out as a potential station location.
• Lilyfield Road Lilyfield: A southerly route would provide an option for a station to service Lilyfield and parts of Leichhardt as well as an additional interchange with the Inner West Light Rail line. However, there are no major centres nearby and it is very close to the WestConnex tunnel currently under construction, as well as the planned Rozelle motorway junction.
• Norton Street Leichhardt: Moving the Metro West route further south would mean a station could be added in Leichhardt, a significant, established inner west residential and commercial centre which is largely serviced by buses. The station could be located under Norton Street but there are several nearby locations – for example the Leichhardt Bus Depot – which could provide temporary access for construction. A potential downside is again provided by the WestConnex corridor, which the Metro West tunnel would have to cross twice to reach a station at Leichhardt.

Sydney Metro West investigation area with proposed additional station precinct and station locations (in red). Base map source: transport for NSW

On balance Leichhardt would seem to be the best location. A station here would provide quick access the CBD, Parramatta and other locations on the Metro West corridor from a major centre currently reliant on buses and a congested Parramatta Road – though whether this is a feasible site would depend largely on whether the WestConnex issue can be resolved. It also depends on the degree to which the government manages any associated development and the community’s response, given increasing perceptions that new transport infrastructure is increasingly a vehicle for property speculation and overdevelopment.

More broadly this analysis has not considered alternative options for the overall Sydney Metro West route, for example a more southerly corridor, which I discussed in a previous article. Some of these alternatives could come into play if Labor wins the 2019 State election and implements its commitment to scrap the Bankstown line conversion to accelerate construction of Sydney Metro West, which I will consider in my next post. Readers should also consider responding to the call from Transport for NSW for feedback on Sydney West Metro by 18 May 2018.