6 days ago
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Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will Metro West, the major new city-shaping line being carved out over 24 kilometres between Sydney’s central business district and Westmead.
The Herald’s transport and infrastructure editor, Matt O’Sullivan, has this week revealed new details of the complexity – and cost – involved in the mega-project. Confidential estimates show the bill for the passenger train line will hit $27.3 billion – $2 billion higher than the state government’s official forecast for its signature transport project. There are also fears within Sydney Metro, the government agency charged with overseeing the project, that the final cost will soar to more than $30 billion. Such a cost surge would not be unusual for such a huge infrastructure project in this era.
Confidential estimates show the bill for the passenger train line will hit $27.3 billion.Credit: Max Mason-Hubers
Questioned about O’Sullivan’s report, Premier Chris Minns said the government had considered cancelling one of the nine stations on the Metro West line as a way to reduce costs and keep the project within budget, but did not elaborate on which one.
“That’s what it would take to reduce the cost of that metro. We considered all different proposals. That was a bridge too far for us, although costs and the cost of these metros is something we’re very, very focused on,” he said.
The leaked internal documents also reveal that the total cost of the nine stations is now forecast to be $6.46 billion, up by almost a third from $4.9 billion calculated last year as part of pre-tender estimates.
Minns said the $27.3 billion total figure reported by the Herald was at the upper estimate of a potential overrun, although he conceded that the project would cost more than the government had hoped. “We’ve worked really hard to keep costs down. A lot of it is debt-funded and will have to be paid back at some point,” he said.
This is serious money, even in a state as big as NSW and city as large as Sydney, and the Minns government has firmly set its focus on completing the existing projects and rebuilding the ageing heavy rail network before committing to major new lines across Sydney.
As another example of the challenge of getting existing projects right, the Herald has previously revealed that a new metro rail line to Western Sydney Airport is at risk of a $2.2 billion cost blowout and opening a year late.
The Herald has previously argued that given Sydney’s growth and state of ageing infrastructure, the Minns government should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time by planning for new extensions and projects while also boosting maintenance and reliability on the existing network.
The challenges of Metro West add further pressure to this complex picture of planning and delivery. But this form of transport has the potential to revolutionise our city, and we encourage the government to push on with the project as it stands.
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