Badgerys to get rail link… in 10 years

Western Sydneysiders have been promised the noise created by planes arriving at the city’s second airport will be no worse than a car on a suburban street.

But business leaders say a bigger headache looms, with the federal government floating a preliminary plan for Badgerys Creek without provision for a ready-to-go rail link.

The draft along with an environmental impact statement released by Infrastructure Minister Warren Truss on Monday suggest long-mooted fears about noise and air pollution from the airport are unfounded.

As a result of clearing this environmental hurdle, construction of Sydney’s second airport could start by the end of next year.

The public will have 60 days to have their say on the federal government’s preliminary plan, which includes an initial single runway with a second expected around 2050.

It is anticipated 11,000 jobs will be created from the time bulldozers hit the ground in mid-2016 until the first stage of construction is complete.

Although the draft plan includes provisions for a rail corridor, Truss said the five million passengers expected to pass through the airport initially would not provide sufficient revenue to make a rail connection viable.

The head of the Tourism and Transport Forum, Margy Osmond, said that approach risked turning the so-called Western Sydney Airport into a “hitchhikers’ airport”.

“Leaving it until a decade after the airport opens ignores the fact there will be significant employment grounds around the airport,” she told reporters in Sydney.

David Borger, who represents the Western Sydney Airport Alliance and the Sydney Business Chamber, echoed the concerns.

He wants to see an “aerotropolis”, including multiple business parks surrounding the airport, to help ease the jobs deficit in outer western and southwestern Sydney.

But Borger said having a rail link in place from 2025 would be crucial.

“This should be an opportunity not just to build the airport and connect it but to get all those new town centres that western Sydney needs to push the needle on jobs,” Borger said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance have previously described a rail link for Badgerys Creek as essential but there has been no agreement yet about when it should be built or who pays.

A Transport for NSW spokesman told AAP the department was working with the Commonwealth to develop infrastructure to support the planned airport.

NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley wants the airport’s eventual private operator to foot the bill.

“There will be considerable windfall gains for the operator of a western Sydney airport, and it’s only fair they make a contribution to the infrastructure that will be needed to connect the airport to the rest of our city,” he said.

Any passenger train line would likely be an extension of the existing South West Rail Link to Leppington.

The public will have 60 days to comment on the plan, which includes an initial single runway with a second expected about 2050 capable of handling 82 million passengers a year.

THE AIRPORT PLAN:

Set to create more than 3000 jobs in 2022, nearly 9000 in 2031, 60,000 in 2063
Same size as Gold Coast airport but within five years will match Adelaide airport
3.7km single runway, with a second runway by 2050 that can take 82 million passengers
Construction due to start in late 2016
Operations to start in mid-2020s
$3.6 billion roads package, with rail corridor scoped out
Community has until December 18 to comment on plan and draft environmental impact statement.

(Source: Australian government)

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