Proposed Garigal Line from Dee Why to Chatswood

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As a resident of Mosman for the past 35 years I have been angered by the support of the sitting Federal Liberal MPs for Mackellar and Warringah for the NSW Govt’s Beaches Link  proposal for yet another tolled motorway from the northern beaches to North Sydney and the WestCONnex at Rozelle, via the proposed Western Tunnel under Sydney Harbour.
 
The NSW Govt has done its usual secretive approach to public transport infrastructure with their Beaches Link project
    • A heavy security blanket thrown over any details about their Beaches Link project
    • Rushing into expensive site investigation work, as if the project is a fait accompli
    • Very little real public consultation of Beaches Link
    • NO public consultation on alternatives to a tolled motorway serving the northern beaches
    • No publication of the business case for their Beaches Link
    • No financial analysis for the Opposition or general public to evaluate the Return on Investment (ROI) of Beaches Link
 
For many years there have been various proposals for some form of heavy rail or light rail link from about Dee Why, linking up with the T1 North Rail Line somewhere between Chatswood and North Sydney.  
 
There are even some existing tunnel stubs close to North Sydney for bringing another rail service into the existing North Sydney Station. 
 
The following diagram shows one option for creating a rail line from Dee Why to Chatswood.  I have named this the Gadigal Line, as recognition of one of the clans of First Australians who have occupied parts of Sydney north of the harbour for tens of thousands of years.
 

Fig. 1 Proposed Garigal LIne (V1) Dee Why to Chatswood

The decision as to whether Garigal Line is created using

1)  heavy rail,

2) a Metro service, or even

3) a light rail service

is a matter for detailed transport design investigations.


The Berejiklian Govt, driven by her puppet masters at Transurban, MTR (Hong Kong), Property Council of Australia, Urban Task Force, Committee of Sydney, etc, is trying to push their Beaches Link  proposal through before the NSW elections on 23-mar-2019.

Residents and voters in North Shore electorate are seeing studies from University Technology Sydney that Beaches Link will not relieve the traffic load across Spit Bridge, or along Spit and Military Roads.   This route is now one of the busiest roads in Australia, with the worst congestion on the weekend – a fact I know well as a Mosman resident for 35 years.

ACTIONS ARISING

  1. Let’s take a pause on Berejiklian’s single option for connecting the northern beaches to the rest of Sydney with new public infrastructure  
  2. Let’s have public discussion about the alternatives for public transport infrastructure serving the Northern Beach
  3. And let’s challenge sitting Liberal MPs Tony Abbott and Jason Falinski why they are such strong supporters of a sub-optimal, expensive proposal like the Beaches Link.