Western Sydney Airport (WSI) Discussion

[Saab34]

It’s been nearly 60 years since our last major airport was built so I’m certainly looking forward to some newness.

Now can we demolish Tullamarine and build a new one on the other side of the runway

 

[AuSammy]

I am sure there will be massive chaos when the airport opens.
Only 1 bus line from St Marys is not enough.
There needs to be buses running every 15 minutes from Central and Waterloo, Bondi Junction, North Sydney, Chatswood, Manly, Macquarie Park, Strathfield and Hurstville direct to WSI to cater for those who may need to choose WSI to fly, or else I don't think the airport is going to serve its purpose.

Huh.

With maybe 6 JQ domestic jets based out of there and one or two international departures per day at the beginning, who is going to be sitting on all those bus seats????

 

[elanshin]

High-speed rail enters next stage in Australian journey

Some may have dismissed high-speed rail in Australia as a pipe dream – but real progress has been made to take it from dream to reality.

www.railexpress.com.au

The Newcastle to Sydney high-speed rail network is planned to run from central Newcastle through the Central Coast into Sydney CBD before heading west, with stations at Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Central Coast, Sydney Central, Paramatta and Western Sydney Airport

Not sure how far along the study is or if we'll ever see it enter real build, but there has been significant more activity on the Sydney - Newcastle front. The talk of it turning west into a terminus at WSI however I've not heard previously.

 

[moa999]

talk of it turning west into a terminus at WSI however I've not heard previously.

Think that talk appeared after the current government de-prioritised the under construction Metro West extension from Westmead to WSI.

Personally think HSR beter going to Campbeltown then onto Canberra, with the Metro extended to Campbeltown.

Airports need more turn up and go style transport rather than the fixed time ticketing that most global HSR services use.

 

[SYD]

High-speed rail enters next stage in Australian journey

Some may have dismissed high-speed rail in Australia as a pipe dream – but real progress has been made to take it from dream to reality.

www.railexpress.com.au

Not sure how far along the study is or if we'll ever see it enter real build, but there has been significant more activity on the Sydney - Newcastle front. The talk of it turning west into a terminus at WSI however I've not heard previously.

An earlier proposal was suggesting that the line from the Central Coast / Newcastle would arrive in the Sydney Metropolitan area somewhere like Parramatta before heading south towards Canberra ie you’d still need to then get to the CBD somehow.

They’re leaning towards tunnelling, so they’re probably less constrained on finding corridors into and out of Sydney so they can now propose to make a beeline to Central Sydney (which potentially allows for an onward line to the Illawarra. But heading all the way to WSI before turning left to Canberra doesn’t sound very optimal IMHO.

Airports need more turn up and go style transport rather than the fixed time ticketing that most global HSR services use.

Yeah, you wouldn’t want to prepay for a particular service only to have your flight delayed or bags take forever etc… But certainly help peeps from much further afield.

 

[SeaWolf]

I'm thinking that until the public transport options really get going, WSI's strength is going to be its parking. It'll certainly be way cheaper and easier than the parking at SYD and a lot easier driving there as well. For people living in the area (and possibly even further) being able to drive to the airport and use the long term parking and probably even being close enough to just walk over to the terminal, even with luggage, will be a real selling point.

 

[moa999]

Will be interesting to see what the parking charges are.
At this point it looks like there will be a P1 and P2 at the airport itself, and I'm guessing a Long Term Parking at the Airport Business Park to the north with its own metro station.

 

[SeatBackForward]

An earlier proposal was suggesting that the line from the Central Coast / Newcastle would arrive in the Sydney Metropolitan area somewhere like Parramatta before heading south towards Canberra ie you’d still need to then get to the CBD somehow.

This makes a lot of sense, the (soon to be open) Sydney Metro West would cater for those passengers needing to get from Parramatta to the CBD. The failure here is that they never set aside land or even an underground envelope for a HSR Parramatta station that would allow transfer to the Metro or to the Sydney Trains station.

Having that metro line extend out to WSI would then also make a lot of sense. But hey I'm an engineer not a politician

They’re leaning towards tunnelling, so they’re probably less constrained on finding corridors into and out of Sydney so they can now propose to make a beeline to Central Sydney (which potentially allows for an onward line to the Illawarra. But heading all the way to WSI before turning left to Canberra doesn’t sound very optimal IMHO.

The cost of Tunnelling is hideous, but even using tunnels, finding a route to/from Central will be hard and the cost of actually building the facilities required for a HSR terminal at or near Central would be hideous.

This is one of those opportunities that government could actually do something that would benefit everyone - like here's a crazy idea - why not setup "in town check-in" at Central for both airports? But of course, who's paying for that? the airports? the airlines?

 

[elanshin]

Airports need more turn up and go style transport rather than the fixed time ticketing that most global HSR services use.

They can run both. Amsterdam Schipol (AMS) is an example of air rail link with HSR and more local services all going through it. Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) is also a major HSR terminus, but also connected to the metro.

Definitely lots of pros to having airports with HSR station attached. It just can't be the only mode of public transportation

Edit: if i think about the ideal transport network (costs not part of the consideration) then having a major HSR station at WSI would be helpful for future growth. The airport would naturally already have PT links which help funnel people into a HSR station too making it a two in one.