1. Optimised conventional rail service assumptions:
a. Top speed: 130km/h
b. Acceleration: 1.2m/s
c. Time to reach top speed: 30secs
d. Distance to reach top speed: 450m
e. Station load/unload dwell time: 60s
2. Fast rail service assumptions:
a. Top speed: 220km/h
b. Acceleration: 1.2m/s (can anyone confirm this?)
c. Time to reach top speed: 51secs
d. Distance to reach top speed: 1300me. Station load/unload dwell time: 60s
Next, I will make some distance assumptions about various route segments/alignments and calculate associated travel times. Alignment A is a 130km/h service, based on the route I proposed for my "Blue Sky" Western Express, except I drop my Lilyfield stop, and have trains running express to White Bay from Strathfield. Alignment B is a 220km/h Fast Rail service direct from Parramatta to White Bay, which I proposed in my previous post as a modification FROG's Fast Rail service (to enter CBD from north rather than south side). Alignment C is a 220km/h Fast Rail service from Parramatta to Central (with one intermediate stop in Olympic Park or Rose Hill), which is what other Fast Rail services with entry to the CBD South have proposed.
I have highlighted travel times to North CBD in bold, as this reflects what I believe to be the most time sensitive market for Western Express services, ie: financial/legal/IT services sector office workers who need to travel between Parramatta and the main financial district in Sydney, which has now migrated mostly to Barangaroo/Wynyard. For example, these are the locations of various tertiary services major corporations:
* Barangaroo International Towers x 3: Westpac, KPMG, HSBC, Lend Lease, legal firms
* Darling Park Towers x 3: CBA, IBM, RaboBank, PWC
* Other Darling Harbour: Macquarie Bank
* Pyrmont: Google
In comparison, there is comparatively little time critical land use around either Town Hall or Central stations, which comprise mainly retail/residential/entertainment functions. For these functions, a couple of extra minutes journey time is unlikely to be valued as highly the North CBD market. Furthermore, they are more likely to take place in off-peak times, when it is train frequency that matters more than travel times.
Alignment A: Existing express alignment from Parramatta to Strathfield, then stop at Strathfield, then express to White Bay (via Ashfield->Rozelle tunnel) then Barangaroo, Town Hall, Central
a. Distance: 11.4km (to Strathfield) + 8.6km (to White Bay) + 2km (to Barangaroo) + 1km (to Town Hall)
b. Total travel time to Strathfield: 5.8mins
c. Total travel time to West CBD (White Bay): 5.8 + 5.6mins = 11.4mins
d. Total travel time to North CBD (Barangaroo): further 2.5mins = 13.9mins
e. Total travel time to Middle CBD (Town Hall): further 2mins = 15.9mins
f. Total travel time to South CBD (Central): further 2mins = 17.9mins
Note (i): If White Bay is skipped, North CBD = ~12mins and South CBD = ~16 mins
Note (ii): These journey times should be reasonably robust in a range of sensitivity analyses. For example, if the "legacy" rail track in the Parramatta to Strathfield segment in Alignment A proves to be slower than expected (eg. 90km/h max speed), but newly constructed "greenfield" Strathfield to Barangaroo provides to be faster than expected (eg. 170km/h max speed), then the downside of one (2.2 minute slowdown) should roughly offset the upside of the other other (1-2.5min speed up), to still give an overall journey time of 12-14 minutes.
a. Distance: 18km (to White Bay) + 2km (to Barangaroo) + 1km (to Town Hall)
c. Total travel time to West CBD (White Bay): 7.9mins
d. Total travel time to North CBD (Barangaroo): 7.9mins + 2.5mins = 10.4mins
e. Total travel time to Middle CBD (Town Hall): further 2mins = 12.4mins
f. Total travel time to South CBD (Central): further 2mins = 14.4mins
(If White Bay is skipped, North CBD = 8.4mins and South CBD = 12.4mins)
(If White Bay is skipped, North CBD = 8.4mins and South CBD = 12.4mins)
Alignment C: Western Fast rail via tunnel from Parramatta to Central then Town Hall then Wynard, with an intermediate stop at Olympic Park or Rose Hill
a. Distance: 20km (to Central) + 1km (to Town Hall) + 1km (to Wynyard)
d. Total travel time to South CBD (Central): 8.5mins
c. Total travel time to Middle CBD (Town Hall): 10.5mins
d. Total travel time to North CBD (Wynyard): 12.5mins
Overall, it is apparent that for the most time sensitive customers (in the CBD North), Alignment A (running at a maximum speed of 130km/h) is competitive with Alignment C (220km/h Fast Rail entering CBD from south ie: Central station). The main reason for the comparable travel times (12mins~14mins, vs 12.5mins) is that whilst Alignment A trains are disadvantaged by having a slower maximum speed, they manage to offset this by the advantage of entering the CBD directly from the North, saving 2~4 minutes journey time, depending on whether White Bay is skipped (the Rozelle Railyards likely has sufficient room to allow 2 heavy rail track pairs, so it may be possible to have separate express tracks to Strathfield, as well as local tracks that stop at Lilyfield/White Bay).
In terms of connectivity of Alignment A versus Alignment C, the latter does offer a 7~9 minute time saving in going to Central, but the former has a greater emphasis on connectivity at Strathfield. For alignment A, the intermediate stop at Olympic Park/Rosehill will not have any significant heavy rail connectivity options, in the absence of a HSR interchange there. The Strathfield interchange allows Northern, South and Inner West line passengers to benefit from rapid express services to the Northern CBD, and in fact it should be possible for Northern line trains to branch off the Barangaroo to Strathfield line, so a rapid single seat journey from the North CBD is possible. This serves to widen the catchment area of the Western Express service to include Rhodes/Wentworth Point, further enhancing the business case.
Additionally, Alignment A offers access to the emerging Western CBD district of WhiteBay/Pyrmont, and efficient connections to the Inner West light rail service at it's route midpoint (rather than at it's Central endpoint, which doubles journey times to most light rail stations). In fact, given Strathfield offers very good connectivity, it may be sufficient in the initial stages to terminate the Blue Sky Western Express at Barangaroo. This allows some "quick wins" to be established, before further taking up the cost and complexity of tunnelling through the CBD to Central.
In any event, by definition, trips involving interchange will be less time sensitive than direct CBD North trips, as there will be substantial additional travel from the conventional rail trip segment, and other factors (such as frequency and interchange layout) become more dominant factors over the Fast Rail trip time alone.
Finally, for the absolutely fastest Western express service, Alignment B provides a travel time of 10.4 minutes versus 12.5 minutes via the Central alignment, and if the White Bay stop is skipped, a further 2 minutes reduction to 8.4 minutes CBD to Parramatta journey time can be achieved. This is what I propose as the subsequent stage of the Blue Sky Western Express, to be constructed when the Federal Government gets on board with HSR rail from Sydney to Brisbane. In the meantime, Blue Sky Western Express services, using an optimised existing track alignment via Strathfield, offers high competitive travel times yet is only a fraction of upfront capital cost, with only one fifth of the tunnelling required for an entirely greenfield Parramatta to CBD route. It achieves such impressive cost effectiveness by targeting the time sensitive travel markets more effectively through direct North CBD entry.
No comments:
Post a Comment