How will the Sydney-Newcastle high speed line really work?

Housing and regional growth account for 80% of the benefits for the Sydney-Newcastle high speed rail line.  This means the line has to attract people and businesses into the Central Coast and Lower Hunter regions.  So, how will each station work to achieve this goal?

Syd thinks the Gosford station should be turned into an underwater aquarium to attract tourists

We have identified three types of high speed rail station which have different roles in attracting growth and development:

• Central City – a central city location is the preferred location in most cities that want to activate the benefits of fast connectivity to or from other cities.  Typically, the existing central station is used if it is a local and regional travel hub that can support increased commuter travel, business travel and tourism.  In many cases, the station is upgraded to support the greater demand of high speed services. This may be supplemented by an urban regeneration project near the station to stimulate the economy. 

• New Town – in some cases, a new precinct is created on the edge or outside the city to expand the city by creating a new business centre using the station as its centrepiece.  Typically, these stations are designed to be multi-modal hubs for local and regional transport, and are often integrated in the urban fabric of the new city.  Yokohama is a good example where the station was built outside the existing city, but has now been subsumed into the expanded urban area of the city.  China has adopted this approach to create “new HSR towns” for most of its city stations.

• Peripheral – high speed rail lines are designed to avoid passing through urban areas where possible.  So intermediate stations may be built in rural locations near an existing town or city.  The objective is to encourage growth and development in the nearby town or city by having a station within close proximity to it. The station typically has a carpark and local bus connections, and may attract some economic activity near it.  The economic results have been mixed, largely depending on the effort put in by the local community to generate economic activity and the frequency of trains stopping at the station.

So it is interesting to speculate how each of the 6 proposed stations on the Sydney-Newcastle high speed line is going to contribute to generating the benefits of a new high speed rail line.

Broadmeadow (Newcastle)

Building a new station within an urban regeneration precinct on the edge of central Newcastle seems a logical choice.  The HSRA animations show an elevated high speed line and station, and the Council has a detailed master plan for the new precinct replacing disused railway yards. 

The high speed rail line will undoubtedly contribute to the strength of the housing market in the regeneration precinct, but the critical issue is to attract businesses to create an expanded CBD.  The local council and business community are in strong support, so it should be a success.  Extension of the light rail line and expansion of the bus network will also be required to ensure good connectivity to the station and into Newcastle CBD (or else a major carpark may be needed).

It is likely this station will be where the business productivity benefits will be derived, probably most of the train usage benefits and where much of the increased housing will occur (either in the precinct at the station or in increased growth within Newcastle with access to the station).

Lake Macquarie

There are no details about this station, but it is likely to be a peripheral station with a large carpark to facilitate regional growth.  If so, it is likely to be near Wyee to allow people to drive to the station using either the Pacific Motorway or the Pacific Highway.  It may attract some businesses to locate near it, but this is unlikely to have had any significant impact on the business case.  This station is likely to contribute to the housing and travel benefits, assuming there is increased growth around Lake Macquarie due to people working in Sydney moving into the area for a regional seaside lifestyle.

Gosford

We believe the Gosford station will be centrally-located, under the existing Gosford station to attract some customers from the Sydney rail line.  It is likely to become a destination for rail buffs for its engineering.  But, the potential for urban development around the station or within Gosford is highly constrained by its mountainous terrain and the lake.  Either a large carpark has to be built or much expanded bus services must be offered to surrounding centres to promote regional growth.  If its accessibility constraints are addressed, then this station could contribute significant housing and travel benefits from regional growth outside Gosford.  It will be interesting to see how the HSRA intends to improve accessibility for this station.

No northern Sydney station

The lack of a northern Sydney station (such as Hornsby or Epping) is a surprise.  It means that commuters to jobs in northern Sydney (such as Macquarie Park and Chatswood) will still have to use Sydney Trains to reach their destination.  This could be the reason why travel time savings are only 6% of the benefits even though travel times from Newcastle into Sydney are more than halved.

Sydney Central

Central Sydney will be the major destination for the high speed line.  Provision has already been made for dual rail tunnels under Sydney Central station.  So this is a “low cost” option for the line to go through central Sydney.  Central Sydney is already a major economic centre, and so it is unlikely to generate any significant economic benefits from the opening the high speed line.

Future phase

The HSRA has indicated its preferred option is Newcastle to Sydney Central assuming that the line will go on to Parramatta and Western Sydney Airport.  So Parramatta and Western Sydney Airport are not included in the economic evaluation.  Parramatta and Bradfield (next door to Western Sydney Airport) have been designated as Sydney’s second and third cities after Sydney Central by the NSW Government.  The Government is constructing the Parramatta Metro to Sydney Central due to open in 2032, and has proposed a future Metro to Bradfield which seems a sensible investment to deliver its “three-city” strategy.

Parramatta

A high speed station at Parramatta could have an important role in elevating Parramatta to become Sydney’s second city.  There is also a potential opportunity for urban regeneration at the nearby Rosehill racecourse that could house the high speed rail station, providing an even bigger boost to the Parramatta economy.  But the proposed HSR line will run east-west between Western Sydney Airport and Central, paralleling the Parramatta Metro and proposed future Metro to Bradfield.  So it is unlikely the high speed line will generate any additional growth or development opportunities in Parramatta.  Therefore it would seem the only benefit the high speed line may generate is some extra commuter traffic from Newcastle and the Central Coast if Parramatta becomes a major employment centre as planned.

Bradfield or Western Sydney Airport?

It seems logical that the high speed line should run through Western Sydney Airport to allow regional passengers to connect with international flights, providing it doesn’t significantly compromise travel times for other passengers using the line.  But Bradfield is a greenfields development next to Western Sydney Airport that is planned to become Sydney’s third city.  Therefore Bradfield would appear to be a better option for the station to support the planned growth and development of this new city.  You wouldn’t have two stations so close together, so a high volume people mover would be required for passengers wanting to go to/from the airport.  It will be interesting to see what the HSRA has proposed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it looks like the HSRA has tried hard to generate as much housing and business productivity benefits as it can by strategically placing the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie stations.  Housing benefits could also be generated for Gosford if its connectivity issues have been addressed.  Having only one destination station (Central) seems to have severely limited the travel benefits for the line. Additional travel benefits would accrue if a northern station was included to allow travel to other major employment centres in northern Sydney – which could also increase housing benefits from additional migration of commuters into the corridor.