Western Sydney Airport (WSI) Discussion

[justinbrett]

I don't know if anyone gatekeeps the names like this. The local authority can pick whatever they want.

Look at "New York Stewart Airport" - 100km and 1.5 hours from NYC, or "Paris-Beauvais Airport" at 80km away from Paris itself ... there are plenty more examples.

SFO is trying to. And OAK is closer to downtown SF than WSI is to Sydney CBD.

If I recall correctly, WTB was pressured in to removing Brisbane from its name by the Lord Mayor.

However I personally don’t have a problem with WSI having Sydney its name, as long as it has a capital W, referring to the city of Western Sydney, not just generally west Sydney.

As a former Eastern Suburbs resident west Sydney to me is Marrickville

 

[jase05]

I don't know if anyone gatekeeps the names like this. The local authority can pick whatever they want.

Look at "New York Stewart Airport" - 100km and 1.5 hours from NYC, or "Paris-Beauvais Airport" at 80km away from Paris itself ... there are plenty more examples.

Yes, many years ago I made the unfortunate and dumb mistake of flying into Frankfurt-Hahn on a bargain basement Ryanair ticket. I found out the hard way that it’s over 120km to Frankfurt by road

 

[SYD]

SFO is trying to. And OAK is closer to downtown SF than WSI is to Sydney CBD.

If I recall correctly, WTB was pressured in to removing Brisbane from its name by the Lord Mayor.

However I personally don’t have a problem with WSI having Sydney its name, as long as it has a capital W, referring to the city of Western Sydney, not just generally west Sydney.

As a former Eastern Suburbs resident west Sydney to me is Marrickville

Um, anything west of George Street!

 

[justinbrett]

Um, anything west of George Street!

I had two good friends there, one in Marrickville and the other in Artarmon. We all complained about having to travel to each others places and generally compromised by meeting up somewhere in the city. Sydneysiders are well known for staying in their areas.

WSI may as well have been in Canberra.

 

[SYD]

WSI may as well have been in Canberra.

Several MPs pushed for that!

HS Train between Sydney CBD and Canberra via SYD and CBR could have been interesting?

I‘m sure some are already referring to it as EPI (East Perth Airport).

 

[AIRwin]

Look at "New York Stewart Airport" - 100km and 1.5 hours from NYC

It's in NY state though

 

[dairyfloss]

I had two good friends there, one in Marrickville and the other in Artarmon. We all complained about having to travel to each others places and generally compromised by meeting up somewhere in the city. Sydneysiders are well known for staying in their areas.

WSI may as well have been in Canberra.

Can be quicker to go to SYD and fly to CBR than it takes to get to parts of the west from Sydney's East and North

 

[moa999]

Several MPs pushed for that!

No doubt pushed by the Snow family.

was a massive failure to not plan for the current airport train to continue on to the now WSI

Not at all. Far better to spend the $s connecting the airport to future passengers, rather than a tiny percentage of pax who might transfer.

No direct trains between any of London, New York or Tokyo airports either, even though most have various forms of rail connections to the city.

The initial Airport Metro connection is to St.Marys with studies for future connections to the M1 Tallawong terminus, to Macarthur/ Liverpool and to T2/T5 terminus at Leppington.
There is space kept aside for a future station connected to Metro West (Westmead/ Parramatta) but the current government dropped the study funds.

 

[SYD]

Not at all. Far better to spend the $s connecting the airport to future passengers, rather than a tiny percentage of pax who might transfer.

The comment about not extending the heavy rail towards WSI was more about building a more direct line from the rest of Sydney and future proofing for growing international services. The interconnection between SYD and WSI would have been an added bonus.

Yes, the metro connection being built (as I mentioned earlier) will be good for the immediate catchment area but next to useless (or impractical) for anyone in the Northern Beaches, Inner West, CBD and East and South East.

No direct trains between any of London, New York or Tokyo airports either, even though most have various forms of rail connections to the city.

The EL in London could have better connected to LCY (and not so much the interconnection between LHR and LCY but just because they could have/should have.

Although it has provided a one change connection between LHR and LGW.

SFO and OAK are connected by BART.

There is space kept aside for a future station connected to Metro West (Westmead/ Parramatta) but the current government dropped the study funds.

Yes, another stuff up.

 

[justinbrett]

No doubt pushed by the Snow family.


Not at all. Far better to spend the $s connecting the airport to future passengers, rather than a tiny percentage of pax who might transfer.

No direct trains between any of London, New York or Tokyo airports either, even though most have various forms of rail connections to the city.

The initial Airport Metro connection is to St.Marys with studies for future connections to the M1 Tallawong terminus, to Macarthur/ Liverpool and to T2/T5 terminus at Leppington.
There is space kept aside for a future station connected to Metro West (Westmead/ Parramatta) but the current government dropped the study funds.

Even if they built a heavy rail spur line from St Marys to WSI it would have been exponentially better - the ability to run trains direct from Central to WSI, via important centres such as Paramatta & Blacktown (and hence connecting to Richmond). The ideal plan would be to run from Liverpool to St Marys via WSI which would connect it to the entire city.

As I've already said in this thread, this Australian habit of "fitted for, not with" in most cases means it never happens. The airport line in Brisbane has had a proposed station at Skygate (DFO) since its design phase and despite continued talk it still hasn't happened over 20 years later.

 

[dajop]

SFO and OAK are connected by BART.

Yeh, and MDW and ORD are connected by Chicago's Subway/El. But neither are direct through running trains, like the connection from LHR to LCY or LHR to LGW, a change in train is required.

Trying to think of two nearby airports that more or less serve the same urban agglomerate that are connected by rail without changing trains, and the one pair I came up with was DUS and CGN. ZRH and GVA are also connected by direct trains, but they are 3 hrs apart.

 

[elanshin]

Even if they built a heavy rail spur line from St Marys to WSI it would have been exponentially better - the ability to run trains direct from Central to WSI, via important centres such as Paramatta & Blacktown (and hence connecting to Richmond). The ideal plan would be to run from Liverpool to St Marys via WSI which would connect it to the entire city.

As I've already said in this thread, this Australian habit of "fitted for, not with" in most cases means it never happens. The airport line in Brisbane has had a proposed station at Skygate (DFO) since its design phase and despite continued talk it still hasn't happened over 20 years later.

The actual low hanging fruit is to extend leppington into aerotropolis and WSI. This would then connect into the existing line serving also a fast way to get to SW Sydney or a quicker express into the CBD on an existing line which so happens to go via SYD as an added bonus.

From leppington station, i believe it's only about a 12-15km, 15-20 minute drive to WSI which getting an extension of the line with 2 stops should've been a no brainer.

 

[moa999]

It's cheaper.. but a 12-15km heavy rail extension still isn't cheap.

And if it effectively blocks a future direct connection to Parramatta/ CBD or Campbeltown / Macarthur both of which would have much higher passenger projections, it's an economically stupid move.

 

[Franky]

It's cheaper.. but a 12-15km heavy rail extension still isn't cheap.

And if it effectively blocks a future direct connection to Parramatta/ CBD or Campbeltown / Macarthur both of which would have much higher passenger projections, it's an economically stupid move.

'It's cheaper.. but a 12-15km heavy rail extension still isn't cheap.' As I recall there was a 'light rail' built in Sydney not long ago which was a financial disaster - $2.5bn was it??

 

[justinbrett]

Yeh, and MDW and ORD are connected by Chicago's Subway/El. But neither are direct through running trains, like the connection from LHR to LCY or LHR to LGW, a change in train is required.

Trying to think of two nearby airports that more or less serve the same urban agglomerate that are connected by rail without changing trains, and the one pair I came up with was DUS and CGN. ZRH and GVA are also connected by direct trains, but they are 3 hrs apart.

I think ICN & GMP.

Also there's at least plans to connect BNE & OOL.

Gold Coast Heavy Rail Extension – Varsity Lakes to Gold Coast Airport (Department of Transport and Main Roads)

We are planning and preserving land for a proposed extension of the Gold Coast Line from Varsity Lakes to Tugun, Coolangatta and the Gold Coast Airport.

www.tmr.qld.gov.au

 

[justinbrett]

'It's cheaper.. but a 12-15km heavy rail extension still isn't cheap.' As I recall there was a 'light rail' built in Sydney not long ago which was a financial disaster - $2.5bn was it??

And it's bursting at the seems every time I've been on it.

I'd say it was a resounding success, although not cheap (nothing good ever is).

 

[tdimdad]

Changing trains mid-journey can work OK, if done properly. But looking at the station built in St Marys, the metro station seems to be a separate one, although adjacent, to the current train station.

The way Singapore has the change organised in Tanah Merah works well because it's so simple: just walk 10 m across the platform. The next best option is an efficient and easy change of platforms within the same station complex. Hopefully they make that happen in St Marys, otherwise it'll be a lost opportunity to make the train an easy and inviting option.

 

[RooFlyer]

Can be quicker to go to SYD and fly to CBR than it takes to get to parts of the west from Sydney's East and North

And I’m sure the Westies say thank God the bankers from the beaches won’t come here.

Oh, and those who just can’t put the words western and Sydney together in the one sentence just call the damn airport Nancy Bird.

 

[dairyfloss]

Changing trains mid-journey can work OK, if done properly. But looking at the station built in St Marys, the metro station seems to be a separate one, although adjacent, to the current train station.

The way Singapore has the change organised in Tanah Merah works well because it's so simple: just walk 10 m across the platform. The next best option is an efficient and easy change of platforms within the same station complex. Hopefully they make that happen in St Marys, otherwise it'll be a lost opportunity to make the train an easy and inviting option.

Singapore works very well; the only way it could be better (other than no connection needed at all) would be that the connection was at an indoor/air-conditioned MRT station!

 

[dajop]

I think ICN & GMP.

Forgot about that one. There's also PVG & SHA via Shanghai Metro Line 2 - although that's about 100 or so minutes.