Sydney has reached peak metro. Is it all downhill from here?
Minns has also dashed any hopes of new stations for the under-construction Metro West having the same artistic flair that has given Sydney its first Instagrammable public transport project.
A pedestrian tunnel linking Martin Place metro station with the existing station is called Mulu Giligu – meaning 'path of light' in the Gadigal language. Artist Callum Morton used 10,000 brightly coloured porcelain enamel tiles to create two soaring murals at both entrances to Gadigal station. A portrait of an Indigenous dancer named Roscoe is a feature of Waterloo station.
The architecturally designed stations double as a tourist attraction and destination for art lovers. But Minns has foreshadowed that the new stations on Metro West – linking Parramatta to the CBD – will be 'form over function' with a focus on moving commuters from A to B.
Minns' reticence to overpromise more metros or art-filled stations is understandable given the underground lines come with multibillion-dollar price tags. The government argues that something has to give, and schools, hospitals and roads cannot be sacrificed for public transport that services only Sydney. But it is a bitter pill to swallow for a city that cannot get enough of its new toy.
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Similarly, the opposition has seized on Sydney's love affair with the metro which was, after all, a Coalition project. On the day Sydney was wishing the metro a happy birthday, Opposition Leader Mark Speakman was declaring that the Coalition had 'metro ambitions', creating its most notable point of difference with the government to date.
How a Coalition would pay for an expanded metro network will be the biggest question the opposition must answer if it is to be believed that it can deliver more fast rail. Where those lines would run will be another obvious question.
There are some clues on routes. A confidential review of Sydney's metro projects proposed completing an extension of the airport metro line from Bradfield to 'Bradfield South'. Cost? Nudging $2.5 billion. It also suggested a rail link from Leppington to Bradfield South. Add another $4.6 billion.
Those lines could be followed by a northern extension of the airport metro line from St Marys to Schofields by 2037 ($9.6 billion) and on to Tallawong for a further $3.2 billion. Those additions alone will cost NSW a whopping $19.9 billion.
The Coalition may not choose to pursue all those proposals, but regardless, it will face massive, if not insurmountable, financial challenges to pursue the metro dream. Ambition is not enough.
What is clear is that the metro has changed Sydney. The squeeze in peak hour, when commuters are squashed in like sardines, is a measure of the metro's success. But it is also a source of frustration for some commuters who long for a little more personal space.
The government could increase the frequency of the peak services to every three minutes, down from the current four, or it could add extra carriages. But those changes also come with considerable operating costs and this is a Labor government determined not to be a spendthrift.
So where does this leave Sydney? We have a world-class fast, reliable rail system that has finally put the city on par with other global powerhouses. No wonder we love it.
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