The community can again have its say on the Sydney Metro West railway project, with the second Environmental Impact Statement for the mega project now on public exhibition.  

The latest planning application outlines how Sydney Metro will safely deliver 3.5 km twin tunnels from The Bays into the heart of the Sydney CBD, under Johnstons Bay and Darling Harbour, as well as excavating Pyrmont and Hunter Street stations. Sydney Metro West will double rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD.   

New fully accessible stations have been confirmed at Westmead, Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park, North Strathfield, Burwood North, Five Dock, The Bays, Pyrmont and Hunter Street in the Sydney CBD.  

With a target travel time of about 20 minutes between Parramatta and the Sydney CBD, it will link new communities to rail services and support employment growth and housing supply.  

Sydney Metro has also called for expressions of interest from industry to deliver these tunnels and station excavations, officially beginning the tender process for the project’s third major tunnelling contract and unlocking thousands of jobs.  

Sydney Metro West will significantly cut crowding on three major train lines, take tens of thousands of cars off the roads every day and support the creation of thousands of new jobs in Western Sydney.  

Anyone can make a submission until 15/12/2021 and in any language to the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment on the ‘Major civil construction between The Bays and Sydney CBD Environmental Impact Statement 2021’: click here.  

The project received its first major planning approval for the project Concept and station excavation and tunnelling between Westmead and The Bays in March 2021.  

A third Environmental Impact Statement will be released in 2022, when the community can have their say on the station fit outs and precincts.  

Work on Sydney Metro West started at The Bays in 2020. With the first major tunnelling contract awarded in July 2021 and work already underway, mega tunnel boring machines will be in the ground before the end of next year. Sydney Metro West is on track to be completed in 2030.  

Click here and here for further information,  here and au/11 for the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://www.sydneymetro.info/. 44/21.