The Fifth Estate: The top 10 TFE articles of 2015

Posted on December 27, 2015January 4, 2016 by C S

The Fifth Estate: The top 10 TFE articles of 2015 (22 December 2015)

2015 has been a huge year for The Fifth Estate. Reader numbers continued to grow; we clocked up our most read, commented upon and shared story in TFE history; and the number of special projects, events and ebooks we took on seemed to grow exponentially.

Following the success of COP21 and a renewed focus on cities from our federal government and indeed the world, we leave the year hopeful for an even bigger 2016 – hopeful that our leaders now finally understand the importance of a sector we’ve been talking about for close to seven years now, and hopeful that they will now implement some concrete actions to improve its sustainability.

As we head off for the Christmas break, we’ll leave you with the top 10 stories of 2015 – there’s some scandal, some hope, some “how-to”s and a little bit of old-fashioned sustainability ingenuity to boot. See you in 2016!

Continue reading “The Fifth Estate: The top 10 TFE articles of 2015” »

NSW Government steals Western Sydney’s future with over-priced light rail

Posted on December 8, 2015December 8, 2015 by C S

EcoTransit Sydney – Media Release: NSW Government steals Western Sydney’s future with over-priced light rail (8 December 2015)

Ecotransit Sydney today welcomed the government building one quarter of the Parramatta light rail network. However the community is staggered by the massive cost of such a small start. With a massive initial estimate and so little detail, taxpayers are left concerned that this is yet another open ended honey pot for the construction industry.

Continue reading “NSW Government steals Western Sydney’s future with over-priced light rail” »

EcoTransit News: WestConnex – $15 billion down a hole!

Posted on October 10, 2015December 11, 2015 by C S

EcoTransit News: WestConnex – $15 billion down a hole! (October 2015) If it were ever completed, WestConnex would be the biggest underground motorway system anywhere in the world, and certainly, per kilometre, the most expensive. This gigantic project, which would take at least 10 years to finish, is being forced on the NSW taxpayer at a time when the Read more about EcoTransit News: WestConnex – $15 billion down a hole![…]

New pedestrian bridge for Moore Park

Posted on August 27, 2015December 1, 2015 by C S

An artist’s rendering of the Albert Tibby Cotter bridge

AltMedia: New pedestrian bridge for Moore Park by Christopher Harris August 27, 2015

Plans to build another pedestrian bridge just a few hundred metres from the controversial Tibby Cotter Bridge near Moore Park have been slammed by transport lobbyists Ecotransit. Continue reading “New pedestrian bridge for Moore Park” »

Save Newtown from WestCONnex meeting – Mat Hounsell

Posted on August 10, 2015December 2, 2015 by C S

Save Newtown from WestCONnex meeting – Mat Hounsell (part 4 of 12) Video by Andrew Chuter (10 August 2015) On 10 Aug 2015, Save Newtown from WestCONnex hosted a public meeting in the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre. Speakers: Jenny Leong MP, Celia Morris, Mathew Hounsell, Professor Paul Torzillo, Mark Ely

Rail Against Rail Cuts meeting with Mathew Hounsell

Posted on July 14, 2015December 2, 2015 by C S

Friends of Erskineville: Rail Against Rail Cuts meeting with Mathew Hounsell (14 July 2015) Mathew explains issues facing Sydney public transport, major land use rezoning via urban activation, Metro faction vs CityRail faction, Rodd Staples, North West Rail Link and behind story the push for driverless trains.

Video: Gavin Gatenby & David Kirby on WestConnex & history repeating

Posted on July 2, 2015December 1, 2015 by C S

The Fifth Estate: Video: Gavin Gatenby & David Kirby on WestConnex & history repeating (2 July 2015)

In the late 1970s in Sydney it was the South-West freeway, now the M5, that drew heavy opposition.

Today it’s the WestConnex, but as far as EcoTransit Sydney’s Gavin Gatenby is concerned the fundamentals have not changed.

Gatenby, no stranger to agitation on behalf of more equitable and sustainable outcomes, has interviewed former NSW Supreme Court judge David Kirby, who conducted a thorough review of radial freeways on behalf of the NSW government at the time, starting in 1979. Continue reading “Video: Gavin Gatenby & David Kirby on WestConnex & history repeating” »

Under way: Work has been undertaken to stabilise the rail embankment. Picture: Jessica Christodoulou

$17 million cost of Arncliffe pedestrian tunnel ‘shocks’ country cousins

Posted on June 19, 2015December 2, 2015 by C S

Under way: Work has been undertaken to stabilise the rail embankment. Picture: Jessica Christodoulou

St George and Sutherland Shire Leader: $17 million cost of Arncliffe pedestrian tunnel ‘shocks’ country cousins By Murray Trembath June 19, 2015

Roads and Infrastructure Minister Duncan Gay has defended the staggering $17 million cost of the Arncliffe pedestrian tunnel, saying comparisons with other projects are ‘‘simplistic’’. Continue reading “$17 million cost of Arncliffe pedestrian tunnel ‘shocks’ country cousins” »

rAlien – North West Rail Link

Posted on May 4, 2015December 1, 2015 by C S

The O’Farrell government intends to build the with 15 kilometres of double small-diameter tunnels (around 6m). These will fit only single-deck metro-style rolling stock. Compared to the standard-sized tunnels of the Epping-Chatswood line, which have walkways 850mm wide, the NWRL’s planned narrow tunnel size allows only very narrow and height-constrained escape walkways. They will be Read more about rAlien – North West Rail Link[…]

The transport system we really need

Posted on March 15, 2015January 4, 2016 by C S

South Sydney Herald: The transport system we really need (15 March 2015)

Every time you walk around the “hood” you may very well meet one of the 50,000 new residents moving to southern Sydney. The newly planned Southern Growth Area is loosely defined from the Eastern Distributor to the Southern Railway and from Cleveland Street to Gardeners Road. The City is being redrawn dramatically, with the old Waterloo Swamp now transforming into the dense heart of the city. This ambitious venture deserves all the attention it can get from the community. Continue reading “The transport system we really need” »

SMH Letters to the Editor: Words that are hollow

Posted on August 29, 2014December 2, 2015 by C S

SMH Letters to the Editor: Words that are hollow (August 29, 2014) I watched Utopia on ABC TV on Wednesday and when I opened the Herald on Thursday, there was Les Wielinga channelling “Nation Building Authority” supremo Rob Sitch (“New body given job of ‘strategic vision’ for the harbour“, August 28). The spin is all there: Read more about SMH Letters to the Editor: Words that are hollow[…]

Sydney North West rail link ‘unfit for purpose’

Posted on July 7, 2014December 1, 2015 by C S

The planned single-deck line would be the start of the privatisation of the city’s rail system.

Green Left Weekly: Sydney North West rail link ‘unfit for purpose’ (July 7, 2014)

The planned single-deck line would be the start of the privatisation of the city’s rail system.

The NSW Coalition government’s proposed private North West rail link, from Chatswood to Rouse Hill, will be “unfit for the purpose” it is intended for, according to Gavin Gatenby, co-convener of EcoTransit Sydney.

Instead of being a more efficient mode of mass commuter transport, the planned single-deck line would be an “entry wedge for the privatisation of the city’s rail system”.

The central plank on the NSW budget, released on June 17, was a plan to sell-off the state’s electricity infrastructure, the “poles and wires”, in order to fund large-scale transport projects — principally the $13 billion WestConnex private motorway, and the private North West rail line, intended to be later extended through the Sydney CBD to Bankstown, at an estimated cost of $10 billion. Continue reading “Sydney North West rail link ‘unfit for purpose’” »

Don’t derail Newcastle!

Posted on June 1, 2014December 1, 2015 by C S

Direct rail access between the central business districts of two major cities is the Holy Grail of intercity rail travel. It’s what governments around the world aspire to. But NSW’s Baird Government is planning to rip up two and a half kilometres of the Newcastle rail line between Wickham and Newcastle station, forcing intercity and Read more about Don’t derail Newcastle![…]

Save Newcastle Rail!

Posted on May 29, 2014December 1, 2015 by C S

A video record of a Save Our Rail demonstration outside NSW Parliament House on 28 May 2014 against the proposed truncation of the intercity rail line currently terminating at historic Newcastle Station in the heart of the city’s historic core.

Dulwich Hill light rail – the opening

Posted on March 30, 2014December 1, 2015 by C S

A record of the first services on, and official opening of, the extension of Sydney’s light rail service from Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill on 27 March 2014. The extension resulted from a community campaign led by EcoTransit Sydney that began in May 2008. It pitted light rail supporters from across the political spectrum against the Read more about Dulwich Hill light rail – the opening[…]

How the light rail extension really got off the ground

Posted on March 27, 2014December 1, 2015 by C S

SMH: How the light rail extension really got off the ground Gavin Gatenby (March 27, 2014)

The way Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian tells it, Thursday’s opening of the Dulwich Hill light rail extension is entirely the achievement of the O’Farrell Government. Continue reading “How the light rail extension really got off the ground” »

SMH Letter to the Editor: Spending $2 billion on south-west rail link is a rip-off

Posted on October 9, 2013December 1, 2015 by C S

SMH Letter to the Editor: Spending $2 billion on south-west rail link is a rip-off (9 October 2013) So Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian thinks it’s good news that the south-west rail link will be open a year ahead of schedule and $100 million less than the predicted $2.1 billion (”South-west railway a year ahead of Read more about SMH Letter to the Editor: Spending $2 billion on south-west rail link is a rip-off[…]

WestConnex: Greiner’s folly Part 3 – East-west axis – the problem & the solutions

Posted on August 3, 2013December 1, 2015 by C S

Nick Greiner’s WestConnex proposal would cost at least $15 billion and take more than a decade to complete. In this video series EcoTransit Sydney will show that that would be time and money tragically wasted. Part 3 looks at Sydney’s east-west axis, whose major roads are the M4 and Parramatta Road. Modifications and additions to Read more about WestConnex: Greiner’s folly Part 3 – East-west axis – the problem & the solutions[…]

The great rail infrastructure rip-off

Posted on June 12, 2013December 2, 2015 by admin

EcoTransit Sydney’s Gavin Gatenby shows that new rail infrastructure costs in New South Wales have spiralled out of control over the last decade … to the point where prices are several times greater in NSW than they are elsewhere in Australia and internationally.

WestConnex: Greiner’s folly, Part 2: South-west: the problem & the solutions

Posted on June 11, 2013December 1, 2015 by C S

Nick Greiner’s WestConnex proposal would cost at least $15 billion and take more than a decade to complete. In this video series EcoTransit Sydney will show that that would be time and money tragically wasted. Part 2 looks at the southern (or M5) axis of WestConnex. We demonstrate that the problem lies in the fact Read more about WestConnex: Greiner’s folly, Part 2: South-west: the problem & the solutions[…]