Sydney Metro Bill Introduced Into New South Wales Parliament

“The purpose of the bill is to amend the Transport Administration Act 1988 to establish Sydney Metro as a standalone transport agency and statutory corporation, charged with end to end responsibility for the delivery and operation of Sydney's world class metro system. In this way, Sydney Metro will play a critical role in delivering whole-of-government strategies and policies, including the Future Transport Strategy 2056, Infrastructure NSW's State Infrastructure Strategy and the Greater Sydney Commission's Greater Sydney Region Plan and District Plans.“

“Sydney Metro is the centrepiece of the New South Wales Government's vision for Sydney's future. Since 2015, the Greater Sydney Commission has been leading metropolitan planning for the Greater Sydney region, with a focus on aligning infrastructure decision-making and land use planning, while also promoting the supply of housing and supporting improvement in productivity, livability and environmental quality of our great city. Sydney's new metro network will deliver the necessary step change in rail infrastructure to deliver our vision for Sydney's three 30-minute cities.

By providing safe, fast, frequent, turn-up-and-go services 24/7, Sydney Metro will make Sydney an easier and quicker place to get around and destinations across the city more accessible. This rapid transport solution will be complemented by a range of other transport solutions and investments underway, as detailed in the Government's Future Transport Strategy. This strategy recognises that transport is an enabler of economic and social activity and contributes to the long-term economic, social and environmental outcomes of the State. Sydney Metro delivers on every outcome identified in the Future Transport Strategy, including customer focus, successful places, growing the economy, safety and performance, accessible services and sustainability.

As noted in the Future Transport Strategy, Sydney Metro is Australia's first fully automated metro system, using technology that has been in operation on metro railways around the world. Sydney Metro is much more than just a state-of-the-art railway system. It will provide future mass transit, high frequency, high capacity metro passenger services using cutting edge technology. These technological advances will not only change the way services are delivered in future; they will also revolutionise the passenger experience. Customers will not need timetables on Sydney Metro; they will just turn up and go. New world-class metro services will start before we know it. In the first half of next year, services will begin in the north-west. Sydney Metro Northwest will provide eight new stations, with a further five existing stations being upgraded. There will also be an additional 4,000 new commuter car spaces to support the metro system.”

1. The principal objectives of Sydney Metro are as follows: 
1. to deliver safe and reliable metro passenger services in an efficient, effective and financially responsible manner,
2. to facilitate and carry out the orderly and efficient development of land in the locality of metro stations, depots and stabling yards, and proposed metro stations, depots and stabling yards.
2. The other objectives of Sydney Metro are as follows:
1. to be a successful business and, to that end:
1. to operate at least as efficiently as any comparable business, and
2. to maximise the net worth of the State’s investment in the metro,
2. to exhibit a sense of social responsibility by having regard to the interests of the community in which it operates,
3. where its activities affect the environment, to conduct its operations in compliance with the principles of ecologically sustainable development contained in section 6 (2) of the Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991.