ECO-TRANSIT CARTS SYDNEY Citizens Advocating Responsible Transport for the Shire HellTRANSPORT & LIFESTYLEon SOLUTIONS Wheels FOR SYDNEY No.9 March 2001 SHIRE TRANSPORT UPDATE Too many cars, too little public transport Rail services in Shire need urgent upgrade Your help needed in community campaign for improvement given signal block. The train this cost in perspective, the Sydney. Sutherland Shire by MICHELLE ZEIBOTS could be anywhere within that Woronora Bridge—a small sec- Environment Centre facilitated President, EcoTransit Sydney block. This is why only one tion of motorway—cost just the meeting with technical train at a time can be allowed under $50m. information provided by The Sutherland Shire’s transport problems are the number one concern for to enter each signal block. This EcoTransit Sydney. As a means carrying capacities and Bottleneck at result a local campaign group most residents. Traffic congestion on our roads is rising, rail services are filled service frequencies are lower Bondi Junction has been formed—CARTS— to capacity in peak hour and feeder bus services to stations are often unreli- than what they could be. All of the suburban services Citizens Advocating Respons- able. Our public transport system has been neglected and everyone is now Not only is our old sig- that run through our area have ible Transport for the Shire. nalling system inefficient, it’s to be turned around at Bondi Many residents are con- paying the price. also less safe than it could be. If Junction. At present there is cerned about the negative signal operators know the only enough capacity to turn impacts motorway construc- OVER the last four years, exact location of trains, the risk around 12 to 14 trains per hour. tion would have on the Shire patronage on the Illawarra rail of accidents is reduced. If the Bondi terminus capacity and they feel that improving line has grown by 27 per cent. Estimates for upgrading the is upgraded, this could be the public transport system is Growth on the entire CityRail signalling system on the entire increased to 18 to 20 trains per a more positive way to go. network for the same period Illawarra Line (that’s the entire hour. This would provide more This is the primary goal of was 17 per cent. Our trains are track from Bondi Junction to scope for increasing the service CARTS. Securing a commit- now overcrowded and more com- Bomaderry just north of frequencies at all sections along ment from State Government muters are being forced to Nowra) have been put at $45m. the Illawarra Line. to upgrade the rail network is stand for the long trip into the This is real value for money as the first of many campaigns city. The journey home is often far as transport goes, having What Shire residents the organisation is intending just as uncomfortable, with the potential to dramatically are doing to launch. passengers jammed into trains improve rail services for the In December last year, resi- for trips of 30 and 40 minutes entire southern sector of the dents called a public meeting CARTS needs your help to make duration. Sydney Metropolitan Area—an at Stapleton Community Hall the region a better place to live. It is clear to everyone area with a population in to discuss future transport Please join the campaign by that our rail services need run late, and the level of pas- What's the difference excess of half a million. To put developments for southern signing the form letter (over) ☞ upgrading. There need to be senger comfort is low. between theirs and ours? more services from Cronulla Increasing the frequency of Modern systems have sensors and Waterfall during peak services is the key element to a located on the tracks at 200 periods and more frequent good public transport service. metre intervals. When a train On opening, the M5East will trains in the off peak. This The mode that people choose to passes over these, it sends a dump tens of thousands of would benefit rail users and use is fundamentally deter- signal back to the control sta- additional cars on General Holmes Drive and Princes St Peters motorists. More people on mined by which mode is the tion giving the precise location Highway, causing two big trains mean less cars on the quickest and the most conven- of the train. Our existing sys- bottlenecks. Sydenham Central road and less congestion. Rail ient. If a person misses the tem does not do this. Industrial transport is more efficient train by just five minutes, for At present signals operators Tempe Area than road transport and less example, and the service is only only know when a train is costly. running at a half hourly fre- located somewhere within a Kingsford Smith In a bid to solve this grow- quency, there is a wait of 25 M5 Airport ing problem, Shire residents minutes for the next train. This are campaigning for upgrades makes rail travel less attractive Some rail commuters from on the Cronulla to Sutherland and is the reason many people the eastern Shire drive to Rockdale spur line and increased service use the car. Hurstville and Kogarah to catch trains to the city. M6 frequency between Waterfall, If services are running at 15 Kogarah Sutherland and the city. minute frequencies, and a per- This saves time but causes more road-traffic congestion. Your support is needed to son misses the train by five Hurstville The M6 motorway highlight this serious prob- minutes, waiting time is just would cut the Shire lem. Your voice will help con- ten minutes. in half, destroy 200 homes and impact vince the State Government In off peak periods rail use on thousands more. and transport planning agen- drops because frequencies are Rail commuters are Rockdale would lose cies that more resources need low and waiting times are travelling from other most of its playing to be directed into public high. parts of the Shire to fields. Sutherland to take Como transport on Sydney’s south- Both of these problems advantage of the 6 ern rail line! could be solved if more fre- services per hour, quent services were run on our generating even more What’s wrong with heavy rail lines. road traffic. Jannali the current rail Botany Bay system? An old and outdated Kirrawee Gymea National Park Sutherland Miranda Our current rail system is in signalling system Caringbah desperate need of upgrading. The existing outdated signal Woolaware Cronulla The signalling system is old system only allows a small Beach Loftus Major Transport and in need of replacement. number of trains to be run on Cronulla Tracks need to be duplicated in any given section of track-one Peak hour trains on Cronulla Routes Line are full by Gymea and some places and many stations train in every 'signal block'. Kirrawee, so people have to stand. Rail services still need improved platform These vary in length from sev- Engadine access. eral hundred metres to several Main roads These problems mean that kilometres. Modern signalling Proposed travel times are longer than systems used on many net- Royal National Park Motorway they should be, services are works in western Europe Motorway under sometimes unreliable, trains would overcome this problem. construction How to contact ... What you can do to help the campaign ... CARTS EcoTransit Sydney Inc. 1. Sign the form letter overleaf and send to local group CARTS. c/- Sutherland Shire PO Box 630, Milsons Point 1565 2. Volunteer to help with letterboxing and street stalls to spread the word. Environment Centre Inc. www.ecotransit.org.au 3. Make a donation to Sutherland Shire Environment Centre Inc. PO Box 589, Sutherland 2232 9532 0799 (donations to the Centre are tax deductible). Hell on Wheels No.9 March 2001 SHIRE TRANSPORT UPDATE Public Transport mprovements Improvements to bus feeder services MAKING the most of our rail services muters. In response there was a large needs to be easy to understand and high Alternatives to doesn’t stop at increasing the number of swift increase in the number of people quality maps need to be provided show- trains in peak hour. Good public trans- using rail services from Sutherland. ing where services go. port that gets people to the station is just Council surveys later revealed that Improved services on the rail network the M6 motorway as important as the quality of the rail most of the people using the new car will create a domino effect and lead to services from the stations. The two must park previously accessed the rail net- improvements to bus services. This will be coordinated so that a comprehensive work from stations like Engadine, bring lasting benefits to the Shire and The M6 is a proposed radial motorway that would network is created and transfer times Gymea and even as far away as the region generally. ■ run through the southern sector of Sydney. The north- between bus and rail services are fast. Wollongong. The reason why people pre- ern head of the motorway would be located at By increasing the frequency of rail fer to get on at Sutherland is its high Support the campaign. services, an opportunity is created to also service frequency—a guaranteed mini- Alexandria in the heart of the Central Industrial Area. Sign the letter below and increase the frequency of bus services. If mum of six every hour. send it to CARTS! Heading south it would cut a swathe of destruction more people are attracted to rail, then Because the service frequency is high, CARTS will be collecting as many through Rockdale and Sans Souci, then pass over the more will also be attracted to higher journeys are quicker from Sutherland.