Mountains train commuters – get ready to get up earlier, get home later and stand in the crush
Draft new train timetables released by Fairfax show the state government expect to cut peak hour services for upper mountains commuters and drastically overcrowd them by adding stops across western Sydney.
The leaked draft shows the current peak hour services to the city leaving at 5:26am, 5:41am, 5:59am, 6:09am, 6:40am and 6:57am from Katoomba will be replaced by just three services 5:26am, 6:26am and 6:56am and all stop at Emu Plains, Penrith, St Mary’s, Blacktown, Seven Hills, Westmead, Parramatta, Granville, Clyde, Auburn, Lidcombe, Homebush and Strathfield. None will stop at Redfern.
The return journey also suffers sharp cuts, with the 5:06pm, 5:23pm, 5:37pm, 5:55pm, 6:08pmand 6:36pm replaced by just three services at 5:18pm, 5:52pm and 6:26pm. All services stop repeatedly in Western Sydney at Emu Plains, Penrith, St Mary’s, Blacktown, Seven Hills, Westmead, Parramatta, Granville, Clyde, Auburn, Lidcombe, Homebush and Strathfield. None will stop at Redfern.
To compound the cuts, the 5:52pm service will make limited stops in the mountains, meaning residents of Blackheath, Medlow Bath, Leura, Bullaburra, Lawson, Hazelbrook, Woodford, Linden and Faulconbridge will have just a single train between 5pm and 6:20pm.
Should the timetable go ahead, it will be interesting to see who is left voting for Roza Sage next election.
July 3rd, 2013 11:10
What a joke. So many people depend on these rail services, because there are so few jobs in the mountains, especially jobs that pay a good wage. There is a lot of poverty, unemployment, and underemployment up here. Especially in the upper mountains.
But the rest of Sydney looks at the Blue Mountains and sees a holiday resort, or a retirement village, instead of what it is, a semi-rural community with no actual jobs outside of the cafe’s.
They think none of us actually need transport!! They think that we all live like retired professionals in Leura!!! I know people that work for Blacktown Council, I know people that work in the Sydney CBD, I know a LOT of people that work in Penrith and surrounds, I study at university, the mountains is already poor and remote, this is just going to make it even worse. More than 20% of households in Katoomba do not own a car! (source: Known Ground by the St Vincent De Paul Society, google it)
And then what will they do after they remove these rail services? Use the money they saved to buy some new trains for Sydney residents! What will we get? Less access to work, less money, more unemployment, more underemployment, and of course MORE BLOODY CAFE’S.
The Blue Mountains, especially the Upper Mountains, is the absolute embodiment of the phrase, “Nice place to visit, wouldn’t want to live there”.
July 3rd, 2013 11:10
**Known Territory
http://www.vinnies.org.au/files/NSW/SocialJustice/Katoomba_project_forweb_new.pdf