Olympic Corridor part 5: $19m in 2015 budget down from $400m last year

Last year, the the NSW Budget set aside $400m to commence planning and work on a Parramatta light rail route.  It is doubtful that much, if any of the $400m has since been spent.

This year, it appears that $19m has been set aside for further planning...  So what's been the progress in 12 months?  It seems like all that has happened is $400m has gone down to $19m, and instead of considering 10 possible routes, it is probably down to a choice between two routes: Parramatta to Macquarie Park via Carlingford vs Parramatta to Strathfield via Olympic Park.

So what's been going on?  Has TfNSW sat on it's hands for 12 months?... probably not, given the leaks and rumours that Parramatta to Olympic Park was the preferred route.  Has there been political interference?  Possibly.  Is extra time required to firm up the private sector contribution towards construction costs?  Another possibility.  Are TfNSW waiting for the remaining $600m contribution from electricity leasing, which is not yet on the NSW Budget.  Yet another possibility.

I think it's time for Andrew Constance to give us more clarity on what's going on with Parramatta light rail.  This blog has made no secret of it's preference for the Olympic route, possibly with a spur line to Carlingford if this could be built cheaply within the existing heavy rail corridor:

This blog put forward at least 8 reasons for why it believes the Olympic Corridor is the right choice.  But the "big picture vision" reason is the inherent geospatial logic in linking up four of the seven centres that in future could form a "Manhattan"-like corridor for Central Sydney:

Parramatta Council seems to have similar ideas, if it's proposal to merge with a number of other council territories are anything to go by.  A combined Parramatta, Olympic Park, Rhodes and Macquarie Park could possibly rival Sydney's CBD in terms of employment and office space (this is something to tally up and look at in more detail in a future post).  Bringing all these centres under one council would allow more rational planning, that matches up employment growth and transport within Western Sydney.  In contrast, the current fragmented approach has resulted in an rigged playing field, that advantages Macquarie Park over other centres, all due to a historical anomaly that exempts Macquarie Park from the parking levy paid by all other major Sydney employment centres.