Very worthy paper about Sydney rail planning: 1855 revisited

This paper (7mb, 13 pages) gives what I consider to be an almost completely fair review of the current policies of the current Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian.

A couple of points of difference:

1. The paper appears to be under the impression that freight trains will be able to run via Tempe still.  I'm pretty sure this is incorrect and the only option available now would be a massively longer trip via Moss Vale.
2. The paper argues that sectorisation i.e. Clearways are to be undone by the plan.  It's not clear that this is correct.
3. Bus services aren't getting enough attention.

Otherwise, it's a very good paper and probably errs on the side of being generous.

Clover Moore now wants the Light Rail to be in a tunnel through Surry Hills

According to an article from The Telegraph, it seems that Clover Moore is now calling for a tunnel under Devonshire St to prevent the Light Rail from having to go past a few people's houses.

Honestly, if the Light Rail was ever to be built it had to go past someone's house and not all of those people are going to be happy about it.  Surely she should have thought about this before spending more than a decade calling for it.  Putting it in a tunnel also appears to make it not provide any service for the people it is bypassing which is an interesting outcome.

All this really shows is that Clover Moore is only interested in scoring political points.  Time she wasn't listened to at all any more.

Light Rail green lighted to return to George St

Rail returning to George St is a very strange idea if you ask me.  Even the Sydney's Light Rail Future document states that the capacity of Light Rail is 9000 people per hour.  The current bus services along George St already carry more than this.  The document does go on to suggest that buses may be re-directed to Sussex St and Elizabeth St.  It is not clear how they will reach Sussex St along the amber dotted line without interacting with the Light Rail but it is clear that to reach Elizabeth St they will interact with the Light Rail on Eddy Ave, potentially reducing the capacity.

What is worse, is that it seems that some of the passengers who currently access Elizabeth St on bus services are going to be expected to take this sluggish and indirect light rail service, using up some of its capacity.

This is going to be very inconvenient for most.  Sussex St is not near to many places of employment.  Elizabeth St is better, but not nearly as central as George St had been in the past.  Others will have to interchange, probably requiring a separate fare.

So far, they have failed to remove taxis from the bus lane (by making it a "Bus Only Lane") between Market St and Hunter St, but it is OK to remove the buses from this area.

Basically this whole plan is to solve bus congestion by reducing the roads they can access.  Even Labor didn't do anything this stupid.