Sick of the Redfern Run? Your commute to uni could change drastically with a shiny new metro station, if USyd had its way.
This August, USyd started lobbying the NSW Government for a metro station at the Camperdown campus. There have been failed attempts before, including in 2021, 2019 and 2017. But a wide-ranging review of Sydney Metro projects has “put all options on the table”, including extending the Metro West line to Zetland, past its current Hunter Street CBD terminus.
USyd hopes to nab a station now, and for good reason. Public transport infrastructure around Camperdown is getting old. After navigating the overcrowded Redfern station, squeezing past slow walkers on the Redfern Run takes 10-15 minutes to Eastern Avenue (less if you speedrun it). This is not ideal after a long train ride, and still takes 20 more minutes to the extremities of campus. Buses down Broadway/Parramatta Road have limited capacity and are usually stuck in traffic.
A Usyd spokesperson says expected student numbers will soar over 80,000 by 2032 (from 69,000 today), plus over 2000 new biotech and biomedical science jobs at upcoming research and industry facilities. “We remain very concerned about the adequacy of current and future public transport,” they said.
Cramped stations and bumpy buses won’t keep up with growth. Sharath Mahendran, creator of the YouTube channel Building Beautifully, agrees. “[Sydney] built most of our stations 100 years ago, and kind of stopped after that.” (Mahendran has advocated for a USyd metro along a utopian Parramatta-Bondi line following Victoria Road.)
Eoin Richardson, senior transport economist at engineering firm Jacobs,* has worked on projects like Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop, with new stations for Monash and Deakin University. He thinks USyd has a fairly well-guaranteed potential ridership from students who rely on public transport more than a typical car-owning Sydneysider. “There’s a large catchment that is currently not well-served, that’s a very good indicator that it could use a station,” says Richardson. Including USyd on the Metro West could also attract more students from Western Sydney.
So, if USyd was to get a metro, where should it be? After surveying students and trawling through zoning maps, here’s the most likely candidates.
Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott has suggested the corner of Parramatta/Missenden Roads, to service a health and education super precinct at RPA Hospital/Missenden Road which will see $1 billion in investment. Clearly, the western side of campus needs better transport. The 412 and 422 are the only buses stopping near RPA, and Newtown and Macdonaldtown are a 15-minute walk. A metro has huge ridership potential from health and medical students at Susan Wakil and researchers at Charles Perkins.
Broadway/Victoria Park, at the City/Parramatta Road intersection, is a contender, say Richardson and Mahendran. It wouldn’t just serve USyd, but would also provide broader benefits by boosting local commercial activity around Broadway Shopping Centre. Negatively, a Broadway station might reduce green space in heritage-listed Victoria Park. But it could also service Glebe and UTS, and connect an upcoming innovation, technology and digital precinct called Tech Central between Camperdown, Eveleigh and Haymarket, supported by the Greater Cities Commission and multiple levels of government.
Finally, after having previously proposed a station near Oval No. 2, USyd might revisit Ross Street/Parramatta Road. It would be well-utilised by students accessing the Social Sciences Building, Holme and Manning, with easy walkability to RPA. Zoning laws allow for “general residential” densities in the area, including high-density development which maximises land usage.
Unfortunately, “development potential,” or lack thereof, probably dashed USyd’s chances on the City & Southwest Line (“a big missed opportunity” for the government, according to Mahendran). In the chosen site, Waterloo, 2,000 social housing dwellings will be demolished for a $900 million mixed-use precinct, with only 100 extra social housing units planned. On paper, developing tall towers bordering the sleepy suburb of Forest Lodge is possible, but potentially displacing some residents and businesses.
Other commonly-requested locations include Eastern Avenue/JFR, or ABS/Carriageworks to support education and creativity. These would probably be knocked back for being too close to Redfern. North Newtown might have lower demand, but is helpfully located near Regiment student accommodation and some colleges.
So how likely is a USyd station? Negotiations are just beginning, and many factors are relevant, including engineering challenges and land availability. Ultimately, the price tag of the project will be decisive. Mahendran points out that Hunter Street to Zetland on the Metro West would have to detour sharply to fit in USyd, requiring more tunnels which could cost over $1 billion per kilometre.
At the very least, USyd should get a stop along the City of Sydney’s proposal to transform Broadway with a light rail from Central. Alongside the upcoming Westconnex, it will hopefully divert traffic from the city, and make Broadway safer, greener and more pleasant. “It would be really nice, instead of the mess of cars that it is now,” says Mahendran, who as a UNSW student himself, is enthusiastic about light rail connections to universities.
Until then, keep dreaming of fast trains and marvelous metros.
*Footnote: Views expressed in this article are Richardson’s and are not necessarily representative of his employer.
