A Minns Labor Government will upgrade our train stations to make them more accessible, safe and secure with a $300 million investment into the Transport Access Program (TAP).
Labor’s plan
Labor will make train stations more accessible and safe, including for people with disability as well as the elderly.
This will involve reducing or eliminating steps as well as improving the integration of stations in their local community.
It would include commuter car parking where appropriate.
This commitment will allow the program to expand so stations that have missed out on upgrades under the Liberals and Nationals.
Labor will combine the existing TAP fund ($342.4 million) with the Commuter Car Parking Program (CCPP) fund ($351.6 million) into a dedicated consolidated fund for upgrading stations.
And Labor would top this consolidated fund with a $300 million boost, bringing the total fund to $994 million for these projects.
Under the Liberals
The current Liberal National Government has failed to deliver on its own commitment to make all stations disability accessible by 2022.
As a result, stations in places like Western Sydney, the Illawarra and the Hunter where workers rely on public transport services have missed out on urgently needed upgrades for years.
The now Treasurer Matt Kean boasted that political “skulduggery” led to a railway station in his electorate being “bumped up” the list for a lift in 2018.
And the Liberals did not follow Transport for NSW’s own analysis of where improvements to stations were most urgently needed, instead they repeatedly prioritised stations in their own seats.
Quotes attributable to Chris Minns, NSW Labor Leader:
“We need to bring people back to our public transport network. Train patronage still hasn’t recovered two years after the pandemic. That means more cars on our roads, and more people stuck in traffic and getting hit by ever growing tolls.
“That’s why Labor will increase funding to the Transport Access Program so even more stations are accessible to everybody.
“But we won’t stop there. We’ll improve the passenger experience at stations because we want passengers on our trains again, and we want to make traveling on our public transport network more convenient and more fun.”
Quotes attributable to Jo Haylen, NSW Shadow Minister for Transport:
“Every single person in NSW should have the right to access public transport services and all stations should be step free.
“The government’s plan to upgrade stations has been all about politics and not enough about expanding access to public transport.
“It’s time that communities in need got the station upgrades they deserve and it’s time to start making stations more than places where we just get on or off a train.
“They should be genuine community hubs, places where you can do more than simply catch a train. There is no reason why there can’t be more services on offer at the station you use every single day.”
Quotes attributable to Member for Macquarie Fields Anoulack Chanthivong MP:
“My community has been consistently short-changed by the Liberal Government when it comes to much-needed transport infrastructure.
“People in Macquarie Fields have been waiting years for a lift at the station, and today I welcome Labor’s announcement to make our stations more accessible.
“NSW Labor will end pork-barrelling of transport upgrades, and put fairness, integrity and accountability first and foremost.
“Today is about righting the wrong – the shameful fact that the Liberal Government ignored its own transport data and blatantly engaged in pork-barrelling.
“A NSW Labor Government will deliver a long overdue lift, and deliver the people of Macquarie Fields their fair share.”