1090th General Monthly Meeting
The Parramatta Rail Link
Mr Michael Flynn,
Construction Director for the Parramatta Rail Link
Date: Wednesday 2nd May, 2001
Time: 6:00 for 6:30 pm
Venue: Sydney Room, City Tattersalls Club, Pitt Street, Sydney
The NSW government has recently renewed its commitment to the Parramatta Rail Link project. Pending planning approval, delivery of the project will now be carried out in two sections. The first elements of the project to be completed will be the Parramatta Transport Interchange and the Epping to Chatswood section. This represents 70% of the total construction of the project and will include new underground stations at Epping, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, Delhi Road and UTS Ku-ring-gai. The Parramatta to Epping link will be the second and final section to be undertaken. The submissions received following the public exhibition of the EIS have been assessed. The project team is in the final stages of drafting the Representations Report, which will detail any modifications to the project. The Department of Urban Affairs and Planning will consider the application for approval and will make a decision in due course regarding the project and any conditions of approval.
As Construction Director for the Parramatta Rail Link, Michael's role is to oversee the construction of the Parramatta Rail Link stations, tunnels, track and operational systems. He has 24 years' experience as a civil engineer and project manager has been involved in some of Australia's largest infrastructure projects including the South East Busway Project (Brisbane), the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, the Perisher Valley Skitube rail system and the Tarcoola to Alice Springs railway.
Report prepared by Edmund Potter.
At the May General Meeting, the Construction Director for the Parramatta Rail Link, Mr Michael Flynn, lectured the Society on the Parramatta Rail Link.
Suburban dwellers know that getting to and from work by commuter train is fraught with uncertainty. In part, the more branches a busy rail system has, the greater the probability of timetable disruptions and missed connections. Also, the more stations on a branch, the less the opportunity for express services if the line is only double.
Mr Flynn reminded us that two major lines (from west and north) converge at Strathfield and, despite at least three lines in each direction for the 12-18 minute ride between there and Sydney Central Station, congestion at morning and evening peaks is far from conducive to punctual running. To ease this situation and to cope with developing north-western areas of the city, the proposal is to link the main northern and western lines between Parramatta and Epping via Carlingford and to continue that link from Epping to Chatswood, where the busy north shore line proceeds to Sydney Central via the harbour bridge.
Engineering planning has progressed apace since 1998 but financial resources have faltered, with the result that the railway construction will now be in two stages. The first stage, which comprises 70% of the whole 27 km of civil infrastructure, will be from Epping to Chatswood. This section will have 5 new stations, all underground, and is due for completion in 2008 at a cost of $1400 million.
The speaker explained that the case for a railway rather than a road rests on the fact that one railway line can handle up to 20 trains per hour each carrying up to 1200 passengers, whereas one road lane carries up to 1000 cars per hour and averages 1.2 persons per car. Vital air quality considerations strengthen the case if need be.
The speaker confided much subtle technical detail. For example, to conform to a maximum permanent-way grade of 3%, the Lane Cove River must be bridged if the rails each side are to be underground for the greatest distance.
During a vociferous discussion, some divergent engineering views were expressed. Alas, no consensus was reached on transverse carriage seating (a comfy 2+2, or a sardined 2+3), but straight island platforms are to be preferred to curved ones where the alighting gap is a hazard and footbridges or subways are unavoidable.
Professor Peter Williams proposed the vote of thanks, which was acclaimed by the small but keen audience of Members and friends.