As someone who lives on Platform 2 at Chatswood waiting for the first train to Sydenham, Sharath is indeed still waiting here, he even edited this entire video at Chatswood station, I write this comment as I stare into his soul on the other platform, once again, waiting for a train to Sydenham like me!! :)
Fun fact about the unique colours at each station: the corresponding colour correlates with the type of farming that used to be used undertaken in the area over 100 years ago. Apples, oranges, cherries, sunflowers etc. a cool fact buried deep in the urban design reports!
So many memories unearthed here in this video.... I remember when the Totally Home shops were there a long time ago! Feels like this video should be titled "Secrets of the Sydney Metro Northwest and history of the Hills"!
I moved the Hills area and stopped using the trains for a long time. The metro connects many important places in my daily life. I could catch it to work (2 locations), go to Castle Hill shopping centre, Macquarie shopping centre, and Chatswood CBD. My parents lives 2 blocks from Crows Nest etc. From August I could take the train to Hurstville, changing in Martin Place to save me 90 minutes driving in peak hour.
I can't understand why they didn't start the Metro from Schofields. If they did it would allow people who need to get to places served by the Metro to change trains at Schofields. The Metro is going to be extended from Tallawong to St. Marys in the future. They should extend the Metro to at least Schofields and eliminate the bus connection.
A Redditor I can only assume was working on the project because of his extensive insider knowledge explained that the government weren't willing to spend the extra money on building a stabling facility for the rolling stock past Schofields. There was an insufficient space for land west of Schofields before encountering flood plains. Extending it by a few kms would've solved this issue but they thought the cost would outweigh the benefits. In spite of their predictions, the North West has boomed much quicker than they anticipated. This was just another example of NSW Government failing to spend just that extra bit of money to future proof their projects.
At the time planning permission only existed as far as Tallawong. Rather than delay the project yet again the new government in 2011 decided to get on with what they could. The line had already been promised multiple times and cancelled prior to that by the useless ALP governments leading up to 2011. One would have thought they could have sought planning permission for the extension at the time though so it could have been done by now. Clearly needed.
Isn't it the case that the WS-Airport metro is incompatible with the rest of the metro network? Different power supply, and different carriage width? How ridiculously stupid is that?
When I was working there we always thought that was going to be the plan. But the way the station was built would make it an absolute headache in my mind to work around without affecting the network. There's a set of points that are essentially permanently in reverse at the country end of platform three. One would guess that platform one would have trains depart to and from the yard and 2 & 3 would have trains travel towards the city one way and to Schofields the other
I think the funniest part about North Ryde station being located next to a cemetery is that Sharath didn't realise that the same applies to Rouse Hill.
5:55 WAHEY HE USED MY FACT! Let it be known that the only reason I know about those outdated maps is that I work at Mullane’s Hotel across the road. Spotted it when I was headed home one night, thought it was a neat little relic!
11:35 The other day I went to Parramatta's Westfield. It legitimately felt like I was trapped in a labyrinth like the Minotaur from Greek mythology. I assure you that Macquarie Center is definitely an okay place to navigate.
Hmmmm...I think Macquarie is definitely more confusing, but maybe that's because I've been to Parramatta slightly more. They are both definitely confusing in their own ways.
The bridge over the M2 in North Ryde became known as the Christopher Cassaniti Bridge in honour of the teen who got crushed to death by scaffolding at a Macquarie Park construction site in 2019.
The Geoff Marshall reference and the Ferris Bueller parody were both exceptional. Looking forward to more Sydney Metro Secrets when the next stage opens.
Plenty of scope for secrets of the other lines too! But still won’t be a patch on Geoff Marshall who is the best transport UA-camr (although Jago Hazard who also does London Transport videos is really good too - brilliant dry sense of humour).
@@julianfoster3443 TBH new lines don't really have that much secrets and most of the planning is in the government vault... plus London's is just that unique and capitalistic
A fun fact I forgot to submit, you can see headlights of the next metro train to macquarie uni if you look down the end of the platform towards macquarie park station (if a train is due soon) because the tunnels are perfectly straight in this section
The class difference between Blacktown and surrounding suburbs compared to the Hills always blows my mind, despite only being a 15 min drive apart. Bella Vista is only 2-3 suburbs away from Blacktown and to hear that it's the "Vaucluse" of the Hills feels sort of surreal. I imagine no future metro will link the areas despite the proximity which is so frustrating. In 2021 when I was commuting to Rouse Hill from Mount Druitt, I had to train it to Seven Hills, take a 40min bus to Macquarie Park, and then a metro ride to Rouse Hill. All in about an hour and a half.. It shouldn't be that difficult. I was essentially made to go an entire loop around to get to work.If I drove, it'd take me 20 mins.
Couldn't you have train'd to blacktown then caught a 735 to Rouse Hill? 735 frequency is pretty bad though so maybe the time you were travelling the train & bus times didn't match.
Re Castle Hill station, the mechanical signal was (last time I saw it) near the playground area - unless it’s since been removed. I have photos of it here and now, plus the original one from early 2000s. Little known fact: my name is credited on a display at the eastern end of the grounds, for providing pre-station photos of the original park here.
Wish I'd had time to go check the playground, I genuinely didn't know that it was there! Disappointed I missed it, will have to check it out next time.
Not sure if anyone else still remembers, but the initial services for the Epping - Chatswood Rail Link (ECRL) was worked entirely by K sets from 2010 to around 2013 after the full length of the services was integrated into the then-CityRail network (initially, only H sets/Oscars ran the shuttle services). No other rollingstock worked the line on a regular basis until 2013. Apparently this was due to the other trains potentially not being able to push another broken down set out of the tunnels from around the Lane Cove River to Chatswood.
I understood s sets could too but since they had windows that could be opened they weren't used because of the high wheel screech noise being annoying to passengers so they only used the air-conditioned sets
It really was a half assed mess wasn’t it. Stupid to tunnel to start with. And then it only managed 4 trains an hour and only did that by stealing capacity from the North Shore line. Massively better served as part of the Metro and now about to become even better still.
@@julianfoster3443 ironically it's after metro conversion in 2019 that the T9 line got even more frequent services at major stations south of Epping to 8 trains per hour during the peaks 😂
With all the references to his earlier videos I wouldn't be surprised if Sharath's videos become like a cinematic universe and this is the next chapter of transport videos for his channel.
The GNB would not allow the use of the name "Cudgegong" as it contravenes their newer policy of using names already in existence. The station was next to Cudgegong Road and close to Tallawong Road so, with the Councils inane action to divide older suburbs, the area was renamed Tallawong.
‘NIMBY’ here. I was at the protest in the 90s against the bridge at LCNP. I am a public transport evangelist. But Sydney is unique in that it has national parks throughout. The bit of LCNP down at the weir is the most popular bit. Putting a rail bridge across it would have completely destroyed its amenity and made it a really horrible place to be (think of the noise from an elevated bridge!) and you certainly wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the national park there. I don’t think PT should come at the expense of our parks, surely we can have both? The main issue was that the original designers thought it would be an ok thing to ruin the park in the first place, and it makes me wonder how much lobbying power UTS had to get their tiny little ‘back of Lindfield’ campus a train station in the first place? It would have surely been one of Sydney’s most least used. My understanding is once the bridge idea was scrapped, they dumped the UTS station because of its depth (and probable expense of that wasn’t worth it for such a little used station), but I’d be interested to know how much extra expense was added to the whole line (if any). Sure, it’s deeper now, but you save the expense of the station, and the tiny cut and cover under the river surely wasn’t a huge expense.
I suspect they design these systems so they don’t connect up at the ends so that, when the government comes back with money to do it, they can upsell them to do a whole new line. They do the same thing for roads, too, like how the M4 used to just end at Strathfield and dump the traffic onto Parramatta Rd. And by “suspect” I mean “was told this by one of Sydney’s transport experts”
Very cynical but I wouldnt necessarily subscribe to your theory. For instance, there is no reservation that is clearly marked on the NSW Planning Portal Spatial Viewer page between Tallawong and St Marys so if the link does get built between Tallawong, Schofields and the Airport Metro at St Marys, a good chunk of the land will need to be compulsorily acquired, if not, purchased from the private market. The Airport Metro meanwhile has a corridor reservation from Bradfield south with one branch going to Leppington and one going to where Oran Park Town Centre is located so if they ever decide to extend the airport metro south to Oran Park or east to Leppington, land acquisition costs should be lower because there are limits to what you are allowed to build on land that is marked as a transport corridor reservation. From what i understand, land reservation is one of the first things you do when putting together a business case (or done beforehand) so that either way (the case gets approved and project gets funded, or case is declined/held off), the land is protected from development until a final decision is made.
Amazing as always! I especially loved that map of the Rogans Hill Line. Those colours of the stations west of Epping are amazing, I had no idea, what genius!
There need to be a railway line that extends out from Castle Hill to Dural, Kenthurst, Galston, Fagan Park, Middle Dural, Arcadia, Fiddletown, Glenorie to Forest Glen. This will definitely help ease the growing population within this part of Sydney. Thanks Sharath for that beautiful vlog. 👍😊💚👋
My first job was across the road from what is now Bella Vista Station. I had to catch 2 (sometimes 3) buses each way from Pennant Hills. Now it's 2 short, very frequent train trips! That 100 years without trains to Castle Hill was frustrating as hell
I remember in the months before Macquarie shopping centre opened they had marketing materials promoting the radical design of corridors that spiralled up preventing you from having to use escalators!
North Ryde residents truly come from a land down under. Fun fact: Macquarie Centre was designed by King Minos of Crete and was originally called the “Macquarie Labrynth”. Legend has it that the ghost of his son the Minotaur still can be heard waiting for his billy to boil in the carpark on Level 2.
Worse still, not only is the Tallawong to Schofields link missing, but they’ve also built houses in the potential future corridor. And don’t get me started on continuing it to Marsden Park.
For some reason, at Epping station’s ‘platform 4’ is not level with train doors and a ridiculous legnth away from the train, as if it was never supposed to exist at all
also between cherrybrook and Epping, I have seen like a bit of an opening in the tunnel. I have 3 theories for this. 1. It was where they launched the tunnel boring machines not far from the epping stub tunnels and a short section between the former stub tunnels and this opening was contructed using roadheaders. 2. Maybe it was a planned but not built station (future infill station, maybe scrapped due to community opposition, 600m proximity to Beecroft train station etc.) 3. Maybe it was a new set of stub tunnels for a future Epping to Parramatta Rail line or for the T6 (strange though considering this was opened whilst the carlingford line was already in planning/early pre-closure preparations for the Parramatta Light Rail).
There's actually a second train station that bore 'University' in the name - Warabrook (University) used to appear on published materials following its opening in 1995
Could be worse- could be Tullawong (Caboolture)! Oh and Bella Vista is full of loaded people because of nearby Hillsong Church! in the Business Park! And loving the Geoff Marshall shoutout!
Distance between Schofields and Tallawong is 3.9kms. It would have been smarter to continue the Metro line from Rouse Hill to Vineyard via the Box Hill Growth Precinct.
Hi Sharath I saw you today when I got off the tram in civic - I forgot to ask you when you were doing an episode on the Southern Highlands line? From what I remember I think you were looking at doing it soon ish...
The lack of a connection from Tallawong to Schofields was a ridiculous choice - especially considering the number of people who commute from the Hills to the West- I assume it was for political/NIMBY reasons. If I was in charge, I'd replace the Bella Vista-Rouse Hill section of the T-Way with infill stations on the metro and use the corridor for a bike track.
It will happen eventually. But all the way to St.Marys and onto WSI. The reason for it was that the former labour govt had only planned to Cudgegong and the Libs wanted something shovel ready .. and started very quickly. And with the pretty low usage of the Richmond branch the extension (and a very expensive interchange at Schofields) doesn't make sense without the broader north-sourh orbital.
7:18 the colours of each station are the colours of a leaf throughout the seasons. The shape of the entry canopies are also in the shape of leaves too 🧐
The actual reason that the Parramatta to Epping rail link was cancelled was because the transport minister at the time, Michael Costa under Labor, decided that the upgrade of Windsor Road to the Northwest was more in the publics interest rather than an alternative rail route to the city that would have seen a major upgrade to the Carlingford rail line plus an extension through Castle Hill. In reality though, the local government authorities in the Northwest region threatened to refuse the approval of any development applications unless Windsor Road was upgraded. Therefore, Costa redirected money from the Epping to Parramatta line to Windsor road thus destroying any chances of an integrated connection between the two sub-CBDs. The man was/is an ass and this ultimately led to the introduction of Metros. Initially, the whole Northwest line was supposed to be a fully integrated part of the existing network but Premier Gladys Berejiklian lied to everyone to get elected and then renigged on her original election promise.
The original core of Macquarie Centre is a helix, designed so that you can walk / trolley / pram / wheelchair your way from top to bottom purely via ramps (quite forward thinking for the 80s, and still somewhat novel today). If you keep that in mind, you should find your way around much better! Although I'm biased, grew up in (East) Ryde, been frequently the place since I was a little kid. And, admittedly, the original design has been butchered many times over - I too get lost in the newer parts.
Just a correction 9:55, platform 2 is bidirectional, depending on the operations of the time of day. And it is not "fenced off" as it cannot physically accommodate another platform. That fenced section is just the single rail track that platform 2 is using. Space is very tight there, and despite the station being rebuilt for ECRL, no provisions for a fourth platform were considered. Epping station is definitely one of the weirder stations as it has a pretty complex pattern in terms of T9 and CCN services using the above-ground platforms, during the peak and off peak (which is also the by-product of the peak terminating and semi-express T9 services). It definitely doesn't help when it's a very busy interchange station with only 3 platforms when quieter stations like Denistone, Concord West or even Eastwood have 4.
"Macquarie Centre is probably the most confusing shopping centre I've ever been in." I've never been there to compare, but have you been to Chermside Shopping Centre in Brisbane? I strongly suspect it'd at the very least give Macquarie a run for its money.
hearing that the weird move to build a metro link to kuring-gai was the sole reason for the parra-epping train line to be cut physically pains me a lot. gotta take two trains or a bus to get there and even so for carlingford. CMONN CONVINIENCE
It’s clear they are waiting to create a larger interchange so are holding off connecting them till they have all the details sorted out including accommodating other transport links
I genuinely got stuck at macquarie centre the first time i went there. Theres no proper directional signage and the spiral always confused me. Find the foodcourt and go up those escalators.
2:05 maybe we need a video about the mystery why Sydney Trains (and Metro) platforms numbers are in the "wrong" order. If they went the other way, platform 1 would be the same everywhere, whether all the lines stopped there, or only some of the lines.
The general rule is when you are facing Central the platforms are numbered left to right. Although when platforms are disused or added the numbering could get messed up
@@matthewalker Yes I know that's the General Rule but it's also arbitrary and could have easily been the other way for no downside. But you know there is an upside. Platform 1 would always be the slowest down, platform 2 would always be the slowest up. Instead we have a random mess.
There are other cross-platform transfers at Central (T2-T9, T3-T9, sometimes T3-T8) and Town Hall (T1-T3, T2-T3, T3-T4, sometimes T4-T8). It depends on which direction you're changing, though.
4:30 look at those quirky little T-Way symbols! I love a bit of whimsy. There's plenty of whimsy in the core-city section of Sydney Metro about to open.
Hoping you do a video on the disused Mudgee/Gwebegar railway branch and the Picton-Mittagong railway loop line. You could stop at the Railway Museum at Thirlmere.
Where would you place the metro stations between Schofields and St Mary’s? I saw a study once where they said people will use cars if it’s more than a 1km walk (to cut to down on carparks/driving) What about one on the old rubbish tip on South St Schofields?
Huge kudos to Sharath for doing some very publicly embarrassing things in public! In this video, pretending to sleep on the metro possibly in front of people, (and the whole town hall video). that's some very great effort!
Legend has it that he’s still waiting at Chatswood until this very day…
you sucks
Please send supplies!!
@@BuildingBeautifully I’ll be there in 5…
I think it was worth the wait 😂
As someone who lives on Platform 2 at Chatswood waiting for the first train to Sydenham, Sharath is indeed still waiting here, he even edited this entire video at Chatswood station, I write this comment as I stare into his soul on the other platform, once again, waiting for a train to Sydenham like me!! :)
😂🎉😅😊
I will wait months, maybe even years, on this platform. This is the only existence I know now.
North Ryde station is built at the dead centre of town. People are dying to get there. It would have been a grave mistake to miss it.
How did Amy, ChatGPT and I not think of any of those?! 🤦🤦♂🤦♀
Fun fact about the unique colours at each station: the corresponding colour correlates with the type of farming that used to be used undertaken in the area over 100 years ago. Apples, oranges, cherries, sunflowers etc. a cool fact buried deep in the urban design reports!
Sharath there is even a more out of date map at croydon station near the opal gates. It still has the epping to chatswood rail link on it
It would be more interesting if it was the Parramatta to Chatswood line.
I remember sawing another one that has elements of Epping Chatswood rail line and Carlingford line at Kiama station 2 days ago
Ooh okay I will get off there one day and check it out!
North Ryde station is located near the dead centre of Ryde.
Teehee
That's a good one!
So many memories unearthed here in this video.... I remember when the Totally Home shops were there a long time ago! Feels like this video should be titled "Secrets of the Sydney Metro Northwest and history of the Hills"!
I worked on Lexington Dr during the Metro build. So many times were we evacuated as the tunnelling set off fire alarms or cut power.
Happy to have unlocked some memories for you!
I moved the Hills area and stopped using the trains for a long time. The metro connects many important places in my daily life. I could catch it to work (2 locations), go to Castle Hill shopping centre, Macquarie shopping centre, and Chatswood CBD. My parents lives 2 blocks from Crows Nest etc. From August I could take the train to Hurstville, changing in Martin Place to save me 90 minutes driving in peak hour.
That's amazing, how lucky for you! The metro really will be transformational.
I can't understand why they didn't start the Metro from Schofields. If they did it would allow people who need to get to places served by the Metro to change trains at Schofields. The Metro is going to be extended from Tallawong to St. Marys in the future. They should extend the Metro to at least Schofields and eliminate the bus connection.
Now you are using common sense. Do you think that government planning departments would use common sense?????
A Redditor I can only assume was working on the project because of his extensive insider knowledge explained that the government weren't willing to spend the extra money on building a stabling facility for the rolling stock past Schofields. There was an insufficient space for land west of Schofields before encountering flood plains. Extending it by a few kms would've solved this issue but they thought the cost would outweigh the benefits.
In spite of their predictions, the North West has boomed much quicker than they anticipated. This was just another example of NSW Government failing to spend just that extra bit of money to future proof their projects.
At the time planning permission only existed as far as Tallawong. Rather than delay the project yet again the new government in 2011 decided to get on with what they could. The line had already been promised multiple times and cancelled prior to that by the useless ALP governments leading up to 2011.
One would have thought they could have sought planning permission for the extension at the time though so it could have been done by now. Clearly needed.
Isn't it the case that the WS-Airport metro is incompatible with the rest of the metro network? Different power supply, and different carriage width? How ridiculously stupid is that?
When I was working there we always thought that was going to be the plan.
But the way the station was built would make it an absolute headache in my mind to work around without affecting the network.
There's a set of points that are essentially permanently in reverse at the country end of platform three. One would guess that platform one would have trains depart to and from the yard and 2 & 3 would have trains travel towards the city one way and to Schofields the other
I think the funniest part about North Ryde station being located next to a cemetery is that Sharath didn't realise that the same applies to Rouse Hill.
Haha, you're so right. I've even driven through it. Just slipped my mind!
And central station is literally on the site of an old cemetery…
Can confirm Sharath was still standing at Chatswood both this morning on my way to work and coming home today
Send me supplies!!
5:55 WAHEY HE USED MY FACT!
Let it be known that the only reason I know about those outdated maps is that I work at Mullane’s Hotel across the road. Spotted it when I was headed home one night, thought it was a neat little relic!
Probably hasn't been changed since the line opened
I give it 48hrs
@@mark123655 that's if they actually follows youtubers... and not mud
It was a great fact! I was giddy with excitement when I spotted the outdated map.
11:35 The other day I went to Parramatta's Westfield. It legitimately felt like I was trapped in a labyrinth like the Minotaur from Greek mythology. I assure you that Macquarie Center is definitely an okay place to navigate.
Hmmmm...I think Macquarie is definitely more confusing, but maybe that's because I've been to Parramatta slightly more. They are both definitely confusing in their own ways.
I got lost there every visit when I used to visit every 2 months or so
The bridge over the M2 in North Ryde became known as the Christopher Cassaniti Bridge in honour of the teen who got crushed to death by scaffolding at a Macquarie Park construction site in 2019.
There’s a plaque for him outside Epping Station as well
It's appalling that it took the death of Christopher Cassaniti for NSW to finally enact laws regarding industrial manslaughter.
The Geoff Marshall reference and the Ferris Bueller parody were both exceptional. Looking forward to more Sydney Metro Secrets when the next stage opens.
Plenty of scope for secrets of the other lines too! But still won’t be a patch on Geoff Marshall who is the best transport UA-camr (although Jago Hazard who also does London Transport videos is really good too - brilliant dry sense of humour).
@@julianfoster3443 TBH new lines don't really have that much secrets and most of the planning is in the government vault... plus London's is just that unique and capitalistic
Dural’s most famous for It’s A Knockout (before the residents complained about the noise, ultimately resulting in the show’s cancellation)
Booooo! That show was a banger!
9:04 Actually the largest gap is between Holsworthy and Glenfield, which stands at 8 kilometers.
also, has the worst mobile reception, making it feel twice as long.
We seriously need a missing links program on Sydney transport. Carlingford to Epping tram, Schofield to Tallawong metro, Leppington to WS airport etc.
Absolutely!
A fun fact I forgot to submit, you can see headlights of the next metro train to macquarie uni if you look down the end of the platform towards macquarie park station (if a train is due soon) because the tunnels are perfectly straight in this section
I noticed that too! The distance between the two stations is also quite short.
That's a pretty cool fact!
The class difference between Blacktown and surrounding suburbs compared to the Hills always blows my mind, despite only being a 15 min drive apart. Bella Vista is only 2-3 suburbs away from Blacktown and to hear that it's the "Vaucluse" of the Hills feels sort of surreal. I imagine no future metro will link the areas despite the proximity which is so frustrating.
In 2021 when I was commuting to Rouse Hill from Mount Druitt, I had to train it to Seven Hills, take a 40min bus to Macquarie Park, and then a metro ride to Rouse Hill. All in about an hour and a half.. It shouldn't be that difficult. I was essentially made to go an entire loop around to get to work.If I drove, it'd take me 20 mins.
Couldn't you have train'd to blacktown then caught a 735 to Rouse Hill? 735 frequency is pretty bad though so maybe the time you were travelling the train & bus times didn't match.
@@Tkop2626 Yep it didn't match up on my commute to work, but that was my bus back home.
Re Castle Hill station, the mechanical signal was (last time I saw it) near the playground area - unless it’s since been removed. I have photos of it here and now, plus the original one from early 2000s. Little known fact: my name is credited on a display at the eastern end of the grounds, for providing pre-station photos of the original park here.
Wish I'd had time to go check the playground, I genuinely didn't know that it was there! Disappointed I missed it, will have to check it out next time.
Not sure if anyone else still remembers, but the initial services for the Epping - Chatswood Rail Link (ECRL) was worked entirely by K sets from 2010 to around 2013 after the full length of the services was integrated into the then-CityRail network (initially, only H sets/Oscars ran the shuttle services). No other rollingstock worked the line on a regular basis until 2013. Apparently this was due to the other trains potentially not being able to push another broken down set out of the tunnels from around the Lane Cove River to Chatswood.
Yeah, I remember riding a K set from Epping to Chatswood in primary school, those memories...oh boy...Look at how much it has transformed since...
I understood s sets could too but since they had windows that could be opened they weren't used because of the high wheel screech noise being annoying to passengers so they only used the air-conditioned sets
It really was a half assed mess wasn’t it. Stupid to tunnel to start with. And then it only managed 4 trains an hour and only did that by stealing capacity from the North Shore line. Massively better served as part of the Metro and now about to become even better still.
@@julianfoster3443 ironically it's after metro conversion in 2019 that the T9 line got even more frequent services at major stations south of Epping to 8 trains per hour during the peaks 😂
The 4 tph service from 2009-2019 was quite abysmal for a line that had been totally (and rightly) gold plated.
This Schofields Tallawong connection is nightmare !
But how many people actually use the bus
With all the references to his earlier videos I wouldn't be surprised if Sharath's videos become like a cinematic universe and this is the next chapter of transport videos for his channel.
The GNB would not allow the use of the name "Cudgegong" as it contravenes their newer policy of using names already in existence. The station was next to Cudgegong Road and close to Tallawong Road so, with the Councils inane action to divide older suburbs, the area was renamed Tallawong.
Macqaurie centre development plans include a pedestrian link to the metro station.
Chatswood is my favourite station as well
Defies belief that they didn't extend to Schofields giving the Hawkesbury good connections with the Hills.
Cute cameraman. Great smile! ☺️
How did I live in Epping for a year and never notice the missing platform 4???
‘NIMBY’ here. I was at the protest in the 90s against the bridge at LCNP. I am a public transport evangelist. But Sydney is unique in that it has national parks throughout. The bit of LCNP down at the weir is the most popular bit. Putting a rail bridge across it would have completely destroyed its amenity and made it a really horrible place to be (think of the noise from an elevated bridge!) and you certainly wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the national park there. I don’t think PT should come at the expense of our parks, surely we can have both? The main issue was that the original designers thought it would be an ok thing to ruin the park in the first place, and it makes me wonder how much lobbying power UTS had to get their tiny little ‘back of Lindfield’ campus a train station in the first place? It would have surely been one of Sydney’s most least used. My understanding is once the bridge idea was scrapped, they dumped the UTS station because of its depth (and probable expense of that wasn’t worth it for such a little used station), but I’d be interested to know how much extra expense was added to the whole line (if any). Sure, it’s deeper now, but you save the expense of the station, and the tiny cut and cover under the river surely wasn’t a huge expense.
I suspect they design these systems so they don’t connect up at the ends so that, when the government comes back with money to do it, they can upsell them to do a whole new line. They do the same thing for roads, too, like how the M4 used to just end at Strathfield and dump the traffic onto Parramatta Rd.
And by “suspect” I mean “was told this by one of Sydney’s transport experts”
on record?
@@PrograErrornoooooo; I don’t want to get them in trouble, TfNSW can be touchy. I used to do admin support at one of the unis and we became friends.
If this is the case why are options safeguarded? Did this expert have experience in business case development?
Very cynical but I wouldnt necessarily subscribe to your theory. For instance, there is no reservation that is clearly marked on the NSW Planning Portal Spatial Viewer page between Tallawong and St Marys so if the link does get built between Tallawong, Schofields and the Airport Metro at St Marys, a good chunk of the land will need to be compulsorily acquired, if not, purchased from the private market.
The Airport Metro meanwhile has a corridor reservation from Bradfield south with one branch going to Leppington and one going to where Oran Park Town Centre is located so if they ever decide to extend the airport metro south to Oran Park or east to Leppington, land acquisition costs should be lower because there are limits to what you are allowed to build on land that is marked as a transport corridor reservation.
From what i understand, land reservation is one of the first things you do when putting together a business case (or done beforehand) so that either way (the case gets approved and project gets funded, or case is declined/held off), the land is protected from development until a final decision is made.
11:40: I went to Macquarie centre on Sunday July 6, 2024 and yes I almost got lost wandering about there. The Ice rink is nice though lol
Amazing as always! I especially loved that map of the Rogans Hill Line.
Those colours of the stations west of Epping are amazing, I had no idea, what genius!
There need to be a railway line that extends out from Castle Hill to Dural, Kenthurst, Galston, Fagan Park, Middle Dural, Arcadia, Fiddletown, Glenorie to Forest Glen. This will definitely help ease the growing population within this part of Sydney. Thanks Sharath for that beautiful vlog. 👍😊💚👋
13:25 BitTorrent open? You wouldn't steal a train Sharath!
🤫
My first job was across the road from what is now Bella Vista Station. I had to catch 2 (sometimes 3) buses each way from Pennant Hills. Now it's 2 short, very frequent train trips! That 100 years without trains to Castle Hill was frustrating as hell
Extension of metro to St Maris via Schofields will be a great capital investment. I hope government allocate budget for that in the near future !
There is different rolling stock/power supply on the NW line and WSA
‘Dead centre of town’ was right there for North Ryde station
I love Macquarie Shopping centre. I agree it was very confusing for me too at the beginning. 😃
The centre is confusing af, you dont even know what floor ur on
I remember in the months before Macquarie shopping centre opened they had marketing materials promoting the radical design of corridors that spiralled up preventing you from having to use escalators!
You have captured all the places I use to visit. Love your video!
Love your videos.. funny and informative. Good job!!
The NIMBY’s you guys have over there in Sydney are on another level. I honestly haven’t seen any quite as bad here in Perth.
6:55 West of Epping, not east. Great vid!
North Ryde residents truly come from a land down under.
Fun fact: Macquarie Centre was designed by King Minos of Crete and was originally called the “Macquarie Labrynth”.
Legend has it that the ghost of his son the Minotaur still can be heard waiting for his billy to boil in the carpark on Level 2.
Lachlan's Line Bridge looks very similar to the Peace Bridge in Calgary, Alberta! With some minor differences in elevation and curvature :P
Thanks .. I never expected to be so entertained ..😂
Worse still, not only is the Tallawong to Schofields link missing, but they’ve also built houses in the potential future corridor. And don’t get me started on continuing it to Marsden Park.
Cries from Melbourne with Fawkner Station which inside the cemetery
Great video mate. Keep them coming. I too hate that Tallawong and Schofields are not connected.
For some reason, at Epping station’s ‘platform 4’ is not level with train doors and a ridiculous legnth away from the train, as if it was never supposed to exist at all
Wait… the outdated map contains the metro AND the carlingford line?! I never saw that map since it only existed for 7 months😅
It world be great if you can do a video about the shopping centres. Rouse hill town centre seems really nice.
also between cherrybrook and Epping, I have seen like a bit of an opening in the tunnel. I have 3 theories for this.
1. It was where they launched the tunnel boring machines not far from the epping stub tunnels and a short section between the former stub tunnels and this opening was contructed using roadheaders.
2. Maybe it was a planned but not built station (future infill station, maybe scrapped due to community opposition, 600m proximity to Beecroft train station etc.)
3. Maybe it was a new set of stub tunnels for a future Epping to Parramatta Rail line or for the T6 (strange though considering this was opened whilst the carlingford line was already in planning/early pre-closure preparations for the Parramatta Light Rail).
Hey Bro I saw you today at Town Hall :)
Thanks for all updates about metro :)
Please do the other lines🙏 would be awesome!
There's actually a second train station that bore 'University' in the name - Warabrook (University) used to appear on published materials following its opening in 1995
It's awful how there is no metro connection between Tallawong and Schofields and no light rail connection between Carlingford and Epping.
Could be worse- could be Tullawong (Caboolture)! Oh and Bella Vista is full of loaded people because of nearby Hillsong Church! in the Business Park! And loving the Geoff Marshall shoutout!
They should have used Cherry Red at Cherrybrook for obvious reasons. 😂
Distance between Schofields and Tallawong is 3.9kms. It would have been smarter to continue the Metro line from Rouse Hill to Vineyard via the Box Hill Growth Precinct.
the epping to chatswood section makes me so frustrated. the whole NRWL was managed so poorly and the nimbys didn't help
I once fell asleep on the metro and got the see what goes past Chatswood.... It just looks and goes back to tallawong
Hi Sharath I saw you today when I got off the tram in civic - I forgot to ask you when you were doing an episode on the Southern Highlands line? From what I remember I think you were looking at doing it soon ish...
The lack of a connection from Tallawong to Schofields was a ridiculous choice - especially considering the number of people who commute from the Hills to the West- I assume it was for political/NIMBY reasons.
If I was in charge, I'd replace the Bella Vista-Rouse Hill section of the T-Way with infill stations on the metro and use the corridor for a bike track.
It will happen eventually. But all the way to St.Marys and onto WSI.
The reason for it was that the former labour govt had only planned to Cudgegong and the Libs wanted something shovel ready .. and started very quickly.
And with the pretty low usage of the Richmond branch the extension (and a very expensive interchange at Schofields) doesn't make sense without the broader north-sourh orbital.
7:18 the colours of each station are the colours of a leaf throughout the seasons. The shape of the entry canopies are also in the shape of leaves too 🧐
The actual reason that the Parramatta to Epping rail link was cancelled was because the transport minister at the time, Michael Costa under Labor, decided that the upgrade of Windsor Road to the Northwest was more in the publics interest rather than an alternative rail route to the city that would have seen a major upgrade to the Carlingford rail line plus an extension through Castle Hill.
In reality though, the local government authorities in the Northwest region threatened to refuse the approval of any development applications unless Windsor Road was upgraded. Therefore, Costa redirected money from the Epping to Parramatta line to Windsor road thus destroying any chances of an integrated connection between the two sub-CBDs. The man was/is an ass and this ultimately led to the introduction of Metros. Initially, the whole Northwest line was supposed to be a fully integrated part of the existing network but Premier Gladys Berejiklian lied to everyone to get elected and then renigged on her original election promise.
11:11 very similar to how Westfield century city in Los Angeles blocked having an entrance to the new purple line subway station
Great video again, good to see you missed the rain…
lol 11:46 the first time I came to Macquarie Centre, it was like a maze, I was lost, not much signage as well
It's been extended so many times that it's just become a weird layout with multiple half levels.
The original core of Macquarie Centre is a helix, designed so that you can walk / trolley / pram / wheelchair your way from top to bottom purely via ramps (quite forward thinking for the 80s, and still somewhat novel today). If you keep that in mind, you should find your way around much better! Although I'm biased, grew up in (East) Ryde, been frequently the place since I was a little kid. And, admittedly, the original design has been butchered many times over - I too get lost in the newer parts.
Just a correction 9:55, platform 2 is bidirectional, depending on the operations of the time of day.
And it is not "fenced off" as it cannot physically accommodate another platform. That fenced section is just the single rail track that platform 2 is using. Space is very tight there, and despite the station being rebuilt for ECRL, no provisions for a fourth platform were considered.
Epping station is definitely one of the weirder stations as it has a pretty complex pattern in terms of T9 and CCN services using the above-ground platforms, during the peak and off peak (which is also the by-product of the peak terminating and semi-express T9 services).
It definitely doesn't help when it's a very busy interchange station with only 3 platforms when quieter stations like Denistone, Concord West or even Eastwood have 4.
Fr i bike from tallawong to schofields it shouldnt be that hard to extend the line there
"Macquarie Centre is probably the most confusing shopping centre I've ever been in." I've never been there to compare, but have you been to Chermside Shopping Centre in Brisbane? I strongly suspect it'd at the very least give Macquarie a run for its money.
hearing that the weird move to build a metro link to kuring-gai was the sole reason for the parra-epping train line to be cut physically pains me a lot. gotta take two trains or a bus to get there and even so for carlingford. CMONN CONVINIENCE
"There's fuck all in dural" - quote of the day!
It’s clear they are waiting to create a larger interchange so are holding off connecting them till they have all the details sorted out including accommodating other transport links
I genuinely got stuck at macquarie centre the first time i went there. Theres no proper directional signage and the spiral always confused me. Find the foodcourt and go up those escalators.
2:05 maybe we need a video about the mystery why Sydney Trains (and Metro) platforms numbers are in the "wrong" order. If they went the other way, platform 1 would be the same everywhere, whether all the lines stopped there, or only some of the lines.
The general rule is when you are facing Central the platforms are numbered left to right. Although when platforms are disused or added the numbering could get messed up
@@matthewalker Yes I know that's the General Rule but it's also arbitrary and could have easily been the other way for no downside. But you know there is an upside. Platform 1 would always be the slowest down, platform 2 would always be the slowest up. Instead we have a random mess.
There are other cross-platform transfers at Central (T2-T9, T3-T9, sometimes T3-T8) and Town Hall (T1-T3, T2-T3, T3-T4, sometimes T4-T8). It depends on which direction you're changing, though.
Ah the memories I have of building the Northwest Metro... and the photos and videos...
4:43 THATS MEEEEEEE
Thank you for the upload
I have lived in Sydney my entire and only been to Chatswood about 2-3 times
6:54 you mean west right
4:30 look at those quirky little T-Way symbols! I love a bit of whimsy. There's plenty of whimsy in the core-city section of Sydney Metro about to open.
There used to be a White Hart Inn restaurant near the intersection of Windsor and Old Windsor Road as well.
There is also Warabrook (university) station on the hunter line too, for newcastle university.
I always wonder where the “AAAUGH” and “Woohoo!” sounds you use are from.
Hoping you do a video on the disused Mudgee/Gwebegar railway branch and the Picton-Mittagong railway loop line. You could stop at the Railway Museum at Thirlmere.
Macquarie centre is the most confusing. Come to Victoria and say Hi to Melbourne Central. 😂
BTW Eastwood has 4 bubble tea shops in a ROW and I think a total of 9 in the whole suburb? (Maybe more)
They all rivals
they built a skate park on that old historical house site
Where would you place the metro stations between Schofields and St Mary’s?
I saw a study once where they said people will use cars if it’s more than a 1km walk (to cut to down on carparks/driving)
What about one on the old rubbish tip on South St Schofields?
Yeah, when i look at a map i think there should be a line between Schofields and Tallawong.
Huge kudos to Sharath for doing some very publicly embarrassing things in public! In this video, pretending to sleep on the metro possibly in front of people, (and the whole town hall video). that's some very great effort!
Parts of North Ryde station are under the cemetery , from day one water leaked through the roof from the cemetery.
WOOHOO NEW VID
I was born in the hospital of norwest, i never knew that is was part of baulkam hills and bella vista
I always assymed Norwest was a legit suburb until they announced they're gonna make it a legit suburb.
Great Video.
There is a proper shared path up Scofield Rd to tallawong. So ride a folding bike between the two stations
Good guide mate Best Regards Andrew