Wasn’t that done to avoid an environmentally sensitive car park?
From: TP
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2021 4:55 PM
To: TramsDownUnder
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Re: Rail tunnel keeps land in hand for billionaires
If you're designing a city from scratch nowadays, you tend to put heavy rail lines underground because they do in fact interfere with how a city works. However, this outcome shouldn't be taken at extreme. In a city with varied topography like Sydney with its hills and dales, new lines tend to run in and out of tunnels. The outer west metro is no exception, having a mixture of tunnel and surface running several times along its length. The doozy of all time is surely the Bob Carr Memorial Tunnel under the Lane Cover River and its prodigious gradients and curves to get down there from high ground either side. All to please his mates in the nature conservation council, in an area that is entirely man-made, not natural.
Tony P
On Tuesday, 19 January 2021 at 14:00:22 UTC+11stuart....@... wrote:
Oh, they're not really barriers, are they? Rail corridors are like main roads and freeways, can only be crossed at certain locations which means your journey may not be as direct as it would otherwise be, but we accept those inconveniences as part and parcel of urban living.
Elevating the rail lines to replace level crossings in Melbourne seems to be more popular than putting them in a trench. After the chaos of construction, the locals get used to the viaduct, it blends into background scenery and is no longer noticed, plus the former rail corridor is given over to bike and walking paths and any other community use. For train travellers the elevated line is infinitely more appealing with the views it opens up.
Underground by train just sucks.
SK
On Tue, Jan 19, 2021 at 11:35 AM TP histor...@...> wrote:
The key statement there is that the report was completed before the project was refined. Any quick perusal of the alignment design reveals that, after the line traverses the airport underground (out of necessity if you don't want runways with level crossings on them), it is then faced with rising terrain approaching Bringelly from the north, so to keep the gradient within reason, it traverses Bringelly underground. The other factor there is it's necessary to be underground in order to not create a barrier through the future city. As we all know, those suburban lines from a century ago have become dividing lines that must be crossed by bridges, underpasses, level crossings and costly long viaducts to replace level crossings. SMH exposes tend to be curate's eggs.
Tony P
On Tuesday, 19 January 2021 at 10:47:08 UTC+11gregsut...@... wrote:
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/billionaire-family-avoids-acquisition-after-u-turn-on-airport-rail-plans-20210112-p56tfq.html
Billionaire family avoids acquisition after U-turn on airport rail plans
By Matt O'Sullivan
January 19, 2021 — 5.00am
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The billionaire Perich family are among about a dozen landowners near Sydney’s second airport to have avoided the state government acquiring their land for an $11 billion metro rail line after a decision was made last year to tunnel under farmland instead of crossing it.
A "cabinet in confidence" report shows Sydney Metro, which is delivering the rail project, was preparing to acquire about five hectares from the Perichs at Bringelly in western Sydney.
The report, which detailed a strategy for acquiring land, had recommended that entering a "dialogue" with one of the Perichs' companies "should be treated as a priority".
Major earthworks are under way at the site of Western Sydney Airport.Credit:Brook Mitchell
The five hectares initially eyed for acquisition is a fraction of a large Perich property abutting the site of a train station planned at Bringelly, around which a city centre will be developed over the coming decades.
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Negotiations over acquiring the land never eventuated because the government decided months after the strategy report was completed in October 2019 to build the section of the line from the airport to Bringelly underground in twin tunnels, instead of through farmland.
Had the negotiations gone ahead, the government would have acquired the five hectares from the Perichs based on the property's "existing rural use" at the time.
Tony Perich (right) and his son Mark Perich at their dairy farm at Bringelly, which is next to the site of the new airport.Credit:James Brickwood
The other 12 landowners south of Western Sydney Airport to avoid acquisitions have mostly smaller blocks.
A corruption inquiry into disgraced former state Liberal MP Daryl Maguire and a scathing Auditor-General report into the federal government's handling of the purchase of land from the Perich family have put the spotlight on the oversight of developments around the airport site.
The Perichs stand to make a significant gain on their large property adjacent to the planned Aerotropolis train station at Bringelly. Much of their land is in an area that was rezoned to mixed use from primarily rural in October, clearing the way for houses, office buildings and shops to be built.
"It is one of the greatest windfall profits that can be made – the conversion of rural to inner-city land in one fell swoop," said James Weirick, emeritus professor and former director of urban development and design at the University of NSW. "The value is created by public policy and the unearned increment should be significantly taxed."
Federal Liberal MP John Alexander said the value of a hectare close to a new train station could rise from $5000 to more than $25 million the moment its location was announced.
"We should put something in place to capture a fair share of this windfall," he said. "The moment you make an announcement the value has changed and it is too late."
Mr Alexander said governments had a duty to taxpayers to secure just, equitable and fair portions of increases in property values when it was clearly linked to government-funded infrastructure such as the airport and the rail line.
"It is manifestly the sins of the government on both sides to have failed to see what was happening," he said. "The spending of taxpayer money ... [on infrastructure] is making a handful of people multibillionaires."
An artist's impression of the Aerotropolis Core station.Credit:NSW government
Under government plans for the development of land around the airport, the Aerotropolis Core precinct will have up to 24,000 residents and 60,000 jobs by 2056.
The Perichs own about a fifth of the land – some 311 hectares – in the precinct, which covers 1382 hectares. The well-known Ingham family also own a large property there.
Tony Perich, the joint managing director of the family business Perich Group, said he was not aware that there were plans to acquire their land for the rail line.
He said he expected the development of the precinct to take decades, and they had not confirmed "any plans at this stage" to develop their land.
Asked what his business could earn from developing the rezoned land, Mr Perich said it was too early to estimate, and the airport had been priced into land in the area for some time.
The confidential report is contained in bundles of sensitive documents tabled to Parliament, in response to a call for papers by upper house Labor MP Mark Buttigieg.
While the Perichs and the others have avoided acquisitions, land belonging to Sydney University and the well-known Medich family is among 61 properties that will be fully or partially acquired for the Sydney Metro Greater West rail line. Eleven will also be leased temporarily along the 23-kilometre rail corridor between St Marys and Bringelly.
Labor's spokesman for western Sydney, Greg Warren, said the government must be open and honest with all stakeholders impacted.
"Whether it be the process of property acquisitions or the location of roads and rail, the government has a duty to the people of NSW ... to explain and justify its decisions and reasoning," he said.
Sydney Metro said the report was completed before the rail project was "refined as part of the planning process".
"Underground metro rail between the Western Sydney International site and Aerotropolis Station delivers better land use and place making outcomes for the Aerotropolis," it said.
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