Labor extended the IWLR to Lilyfield, then started the extension to Dulwich Hill, with a considerable delay after O’Farrell was elected while they decided to go ahead or not with the extension over the objections of the national party, rural liberals like Constance, and the pro bus push in the liberal party that supported Greiner and Broad’s stupid idea for bus tunnels in the CBD.
Don’t forget the Greiner government cancelled an order for V set interurbans, killed the Maldon-Dombarton line, tried to close the Richmond line beyond Riverstone, closed the Toronto line, and put an anti rail public transport clause in the M2 tollroad contract, a corrupt exercise with poor cost/benefit and no plausible business case beyond inducing more road traffic. And their Booz-Allen Hamilton dodgy consultants report gutted rail freight, resulting in road deaths, and country passenger services, also resulting in road deaths like the 2 bus crashes in northern NSW that happened at the time.
The only reason the Greiner government agreed to the original LR to Wentworth Park was as a cover for building that shitpile of corruption casino at Pyrmont.
Tony
> On 24 Mar 2023, at 15:14, TP historyworks@...> wrote:
>
> The DDA compliance works program also started during this period. However, those quite small and isolated projects don't add up to a transport vision, they were bandaids to try to keep the suburban system functioning. The IWLR project actually started as a project facilitated by the previous Coalition government. Labor hated (and still hates) trams, only doing something if it wins votes for them. Most of the big ticket projects of the last decade have been apolitical, largely undertaken in and through Labor-voting electorates that were previously taken for granted.
>
> This is rather academic anyway. The Coalition has left $150 billion worth of infrastructure and investment spending that can't be undone locked in for the next decade. The development of the state can virtually run on autopilot for the next decade. In the end, it was the only way to break the inertia that the state slips into every time there is a Labor government. I'm sure Labor would do its best to white ant projects to get at the money, but compensation for overturning multiple projects would get very expensive and may attract taxpayers' attention, to put it mildly.
>
> Tony P
>
> On Friday, 24 March 2023 at 14:53:22 UTC+11 Alex Cowie wrote:
> Didn't the Rail Clearways Program (including the Macdonaldtown, Homebush, Lidcombe, Liverpool and Macarthur turnbacks, Revesby quadruplication, Schofields and Cronulla duplications), the Millenium and Waratah fleets, Olympic Park, and the Dulwich Hill LR all originate before 2011?
>
> Alex C
>
> On Friday, March 24, 2023 at 10:58:58 AM UTC+10:30 TP wrote:
> ...
>
> Population policy is in the hands of the Federal government. If there's a policy of growth, then the states have no choice but to plan for it and build the infrastructure and services for it, hopefully with some assistance from the Feds, but otherwise go it alone like NSW has. There are two ways to go on that. Either you can plow ahead at full speed like the present NSW government has in the last 11 years, or you can make a lot of announcements then do nothing, like the previous Labor government did for 16 years, creating a gigantic backlog.
>
> ...
>
> Tony P
>
>
>
>
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