NSW Labor Leader Michael Daley has announced a $1 billion fund to upgrade train stations, including providing lift access and commuter carparks.
The current scheme in place to earmark stations for upgrade, the Transport Access Program, has been subject to the political whims of the Berejiklian Government and the money is not going to where it is needed.
A list of 100 priority projects was created in 2013 but since then only five have had lifts installed.
In June, the Innovation and Better Regulation Minister Matt Kean was caught on video confessing to constituents that “skullduggery and manoeuvring” led to Hawkesbury River Station being bumped as many as 150 places up the list.
Labor’s public transport announcement comes as new documents reveal that half of the top 30 train stations in need of upgrades have been deferred by the Liberal Government.
The documents obtained by Labor under Freedom of Information laws reveal the ranking of railway stations in need of an upgrade on the Sydney Trains Network.
It shows that 14 of the top 30 stations in need of a disability upgrade have been deferred.
Deferred Station |
Electorate |
Petersham Station |
Newtown |
Waitara Station |
Ku-Ring-Gai |
Stanmore Station |
Newtown |
Canley Vale Station |
Cabramatta |
Lewisham Station |
Summer Hill |
Banksia Station |
Rockdale |
Wollstonecraft Station |
North Shore |
Erskineville Station |
Newtown |
St Peters Station |
Heffron/Newtown |
Bexley North Station |
Kogarah |
Killara Station |
Ku-Ring-Gai |
Chester Hill Station |
Bankstown |
Doonside Station |
Blacktown |
Pymble Station |
Ku-Ring-Gai |
Labor is committed to installing lifts at Lewisham if elected to govern in March.
Quotes attributable to Member for Summer Hill Jo Haylen
“The Transport Access Program shouldn’t fall to the whims of the Liberal Government.
“I’m proud that a Labor government will stop playing politics, treat all inner west residents with respect and install lifts here at Lewisham train station.”