Sydney Metro

In Sydney it is an entirely new transport mode, cleanly separated from the existing Sydney Trains network. Sydney Metro will see its first line section from Cudgegong Road in the north west to Chatswood going live for passenger service in May. A line extension to Bankstown is already being built, including a historic first railway tunnel undercrossing Sydney Harbour. A second line from the Sydney city centre to Parramatta is in final business case stage. The business case for the third line from St Mary’s to the new Western Sydney Airport has likewise entered business case development. And in time before the state election tomorrow the incumbent Premier has promised that planning start for four further line extensions which would build a fully interconnected network with sensible interchanges between the Metro lines and with the suburban Sydney Trains network.

Melbourne Metro

In Melbourne, the operator franchisee calls itself Metro Trains Melbourne for a while. The current flagship mega project in Melbourne is called Metro Tunnel Project, and the last published transport plan for Melbourne emphasises the transition of the rail network in Melbourne to a “metro-style system” with high-performance stand-alone lines.

Brisbane Metro

Brisbane pursues its very own version of a Metro. Brisbane Metro will in fact be operated with articulated vehicles on rubber wheels, more an extended bendy-bus than a train. But hey, they love the idea and rubber-wheeled metro trains have been used in Paris for decades.

Perth’s METRONET – No Metro yet

In comparison, Perth has a transport programme called METRONET which seems to clearly indicate the vision or ambition to do something akin to a Metro in Perth. However, the current initiatives of METRONET Stage 1 are mainly focused on expanding the existing network, servicing the enormous sprawl of Perth as one of the least densely populated cities in the world.

The Game-Changing Opportunity for Perth

Despite this, from a Metro perspective, rather underwhelming start of the METRONET initiative, Perth is sitting on a golden opportunity which is unparalleled in Australia. The previous ‘mental fathers’ of METRONET, including former shadow transport minister Ken Travers and Curtin’s Professor Peter Newman, were well aware of the Metro potential of METRONET, so that my assumption was right that the naming of METRONET had a deeper meaning. And I am confident that smart leaders in the current state government in Perth, notably including the Premier Mark McGowan and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti have already thought beyond the current stage 1 of METRONET projects. (Why calling it ‘stage 1’ otherwise?)

Cost Benefit Analysis – Simplicity Style

I have made the following simplified comparison of costs versus benefits of current Metro initiatives in Australia. This comparison is based on Metro being a heavy rail train service with frequencies of more than 20 trains per hour per direction (that’s why Brisbane Metro is excluded), the costs are confirmed published estimates for ongoing projects leading to a Metro service, and the benefits were measured in the length of that Metro operation. Rather crude, but very valid and I think very enlightening too.

Using this method, Sydney Metro will get 66 kilometres of Metro (Cudgegong Road to Bankstown via the city centre) for a combined cost of about $20 billion dollars. Maybe a bit less if they keep delivering their projects under budget, but the ballpark is right regardless. Melbourne will get 63 kilometres of Metro operation (my estimate of the distance between Watergardens and Dandenong) for a combined price of about $14 billion (that’s the Metro Tunnel Project plus the new fleet of High Capacity Metro Trains plus some costs for current upgrade of the Caulfield-Dandenong corridor).

And now Perth. The current line extensions under METRONET Stage 1 will boost the network size from currently 173 kilometres to 250 kilometres. And according to my estimates it would cost them about $4 billion, give or take, to do the following two things as key parts of a future METRONET Stage 2:

1. Expanding their Railcar Programme currently in procurement to double the size of the train fleet across the entire network; and
2. Implement the currently planned Automatic Train Control project (already published part of the METRONET programme) across the network, which together with some other investments in augmenting the traction power supply would allow for running twice as many trains as today across the entire network of 250 kilometres.

The resulting service frequencies would be absolutely comparable with Sydney Metro and Melbourne Metro, and even if that required investment was not $4 billion but five or six it would still only be a fraction of the money that Sydney and Melbourne are forking out for getting their Metro systems.

So, there we go with me championing the bold statement that

Metro for Perth is a Bargain

What do you think? I can’t possibly be the only one seeing this. Knowing the Perth environment a fair bit after living and working here for nearly eight years, I could foresee a lot of “realistic” voices who can explain at length why this would not work, even if nobody can provide real arguments that invalidate my assessment. But who knows. I have a lot of respect for the transport planning of the current state government, their consequence of driving METRONET and their savvy of getting the Federal government on board for co-funding. So maybe, just maybe, this idea will end up getting the go-ahead. And the rail system in Perth would stay the envy of other big Australian cities for decades to come, rather than “Well, Bob, remember twenty years ago when we won all those Canstar awards? I wonder why that suddenly stopped…”

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