Hi Paul, you never disappoint and this presentation is one of your best. I have great memories of the parcel vans that once plied the rails and was lucky enough to ride these as a child. There are still some parcel office platforms and buildings scattered around the network but are hardly recognisable. I also remember when it was possible to book your luggage through to your local station such as Bankstown when travelling on long distance services but the only negative was having to sometimes wait until the day after your arrival to retrieve your luggage. I had an uncle who worked on these vans and he sometimes threw parcels onto the platform while the van slowed almost to a stop. I must admit that he wasn't the most careful railway employee at the time. Thanks again Paul for this excellent presentation.
Hi John, thanks for your lovely feedback. So glad you enjoyed this video! Lovely to hear about your memories of these parcels vans from your childhood days! Interesting about how you used to be able to book your luggage to your local station. How things have changed! I don't think rail safety was taken quite so seriously back then! - I'll keep a look out for remanences of any other parcels office platforms.
I have a story about a lady in 1978 who booked her luggage from Spencer St Station to Echuca. She just handed it to the luggage counter. At Bendigo she changed trains to the Echuca rail motor. However she didn’t see her luggage get unloaded at Bendigo. The Echuca station has two railways joining it just like Griffith. In those days it was also possible to board a Shepparton train and change at Toolamba for the train to Echuca. This is what happened to this lady’s luggage, she went via Bendigo and her luggage went via Toolamba and arrived ten minutes before she did and was waiting on the platform at Echuca. No airline can do what the VR did routinely.
Interesting to see how the Sydney Metro Bankstown line will look like. I'm really going to miss what the old station used to look like back pre Metro. Very sad but things just change. Good work on the documentary you put.
Thanks Paul. Very clear explanations of the works. I was unaware of the new pedestrian plaza that will hopefully help to inject some life and appropriate development around the station(s). It is sad to see the old parcels building go, as it is quite unique.
I'm now even more baffled about why the Metro will terminate at Bankstown, instead of connecting to the existing heavy rail at either Regents Park or Sefton. I hoped there might be plans to eventually extend the metro more directly to Liverpool, or the new airport at Badgerys Creek, but if they're demolishing heritage buildings for a plaza, it looks like a pretty permanent metro terminus. The result is going to be a series of inconvenient transfers for many people in the area, along lines that were single-seat rides before the change of government. There won't even a covered walkway for the newly required transfer at Bankstown! I welcome the Metro and new 'light rail' (pity they had to pull the trams out for 18 months!), but the lack of integration with other services at Parramatta, Pyrmont, Lewisham, Rozelle and Schofields, and sloppy integration at Bankstown and Dulwich Hill, is extremely disappointing, and frankly American. It's an inconvenience we'll have to live with for generations, unfortunately. Anyhow, thanks for the vid, as much as it saddens me.
Sydney should have been reconfigured into more like a grid. The route from Bankstown to lidcombe is Essentially north south not east west, so could go in such a vector up.to silverwater or even Parramatta
Hi Mik, yes there is a longer term plan to extend to Liverpool via a more direct route. See map via this link - tvlog.info/metromap. Lots of people have mentioned about the lack of a covered walkway between the 2 stations entrances, so hopefully that got picked up in the consultation process. The Dulwich Hill connection with light rail is being improved. I covered this in this video. th-cam.com/video/yq2offXBCGg/w-d-xo.html. Glad you enjoyed this video.
@@TransportVlog Thanks. Considering the northwest rail line was supposed to be carrying passengers 'by the end of the '80s' when I moved to Baulkham Hills as a kid, I'm not sure I'll live to see the metro extended beyond Bankstown. I hope I'm wrong, but if not, it's still extremely disappointing that they're demolishing heritage buildings for what would be a temporary plaza.
You're very welcome Wael. Glad it helped you understand what is happening. There are a couple of more recent updates for Bankstown, so do check those out as well.
Once again another great vlog from Paul full of meaningful info and professional quality video. And for those who have uploaded to TH-cam knows, the preproduction and postproduction are very demanding of time and effort. So many thanks Paul. And I’m so glad the planners have made the effort to retain much of the existing facilities in their plans, such as the existing platforms for the Sydney trains.
Hi David, Thanks for your lovely feedback. Yes the editing and narration takes a lot of time. The filming is the easy part! However, it gets easier and a little quicker with each video. Yes absolutely! It's good to see so many of the heritage platform buildings remaining on the Bankstown Line stations too!
Brilliant run-down, Paul. Born in 1942 I can remember an even earlier ticket barrier (pre-1948) opening directly on to the overhead roadway from South Terrace to North Terrace. My mother (b 1920) recalled her father catching a steam train from Bankstown (the end of the line) to his job as a statistician at Head Office NSWGR at Central, On rainy days she carried a towel for him to wipe his feet after fording the creek in Marion Street!. How it has all changed! One question. If they eventually continue the Metro on to Liverpool from Bankstown how will they cope with the new ground-level Plaza? Sydney Trains will have to be wound back, too.
Hi Geoffrey, thanks for your sharing your history of Bankstown station. How things have changed! If and when they extend to Liverpool (and this could be 20 or more years away), I reckon the line will go underground west of Punchbowl Station and new underground through platforms would be built below the existing Bankstown Station (similar to what we currently have at Epping). It is proposed that the metro line to Liverpool would follow a different route, so the Sydney Train lines would continue to run to Bankstown. These are just my ideas, but I reckon are the most likely scenario. Glad you enjoyed this video.
Great video. I'm somewhat surprised that the Sydney Trains platform will be extended to 8-cars, as I'd have thought they would really only need to run 4-car shuttle on the relatively short section that will remain. Agree with some of the comments above that much of this work will need to be demolished or reworked (at great cost) if they extend the Metro to Liverpool. It's a shame that the design didn't incorporate this future extension from the start - which likely would have necessitated a more expensive underground Metro station. Ideally I think Bankstown would be the crossover for the Metro to Liverpool And another North - South one from say Kogarah - Bankstown - Lidcombe - Olympic Park, reusing the remainder of the surface Bankstown - Lidcombe track
Hi Mark, yes I was a little surprised too, although it does give operational flexibility to use Waratah Trains. Also the service pattern isn't finalised, and there is a chance that some trains could continue beyond Lidcombe to the CBD. If the Liverpool extension happens (and it could be 20 or more years away if it does), then I reckon they will build that more expensive new underground station underneath the existing Bankstown station. The lines would then go underground somewhere after Punchbowl and perhaps reappear above ground on the western outskirts of Bankstown, or stay underground all the way to Liverpool. I reckon if another metro line gets the go-ahead during this decade, it will likely be an extension of Sydney Metro West from Hunter Street to the Mascot Airport and then Kogarah with a branch to La Perouse.
A great video, your hard work and knowledge of the rail system is Wonderful. I’m grateful for the video and the hours put into producing it. Well done and thank you.
Thanks Paul. I’ve been waiting in anticipation for this vlog! Also I have seen a vlog on YT about a future dive site at Bankstown for the metro to continue on under Condell Park Bankstown airport Chipping Norton, Liverpool Then back above ground from Preston’s and other suburbs to the new western Sydney airport. Unfortunately I cannot find that content again
Great video. It’s nice to see all the changes at Bankstown station. Whenever I am Sydney, I stay at the Travelodge Bankstown, so I walk over to this station to catch the train into the CBD.
Also the building which are to be demolished on the plaza Hip hop store is and to the left were originally a Coles new world store that caught fire and had to be demolished due to sure damage. This also slightly weakened the concrete which was 30-40+ old and trains had to go slow for many, many years until it was restrengthened before the upgrade to the station could occur
Thanks Paul. A wonderfully detailed and informative report, as always. The suggested operating pattern beyond Bankstown is interesting. In my experience, comparatively few people go to/from the city from the Liverpool side of Bankstown, because the service takes noticeably longer than via Granville, including a long stop at Bankstown itself. At Bankstown, it was always noticeable that a city bound train from Liverpool would empty of most passengers and a new lot would get on bound for the city. Commuters would probably be happy to see a restoration of Liverpool to City via Regents Park services, as they were always quicker and more lightly loaded than those via Granville. That leaves most people likely needing to transfer between Metro and Sydney Trains at Bankstown being those heading to / from Lidcombe on a shuttle service. But it also means anyone wanting to travel between, say Caramar/Sefton to Punchbowl/Sydenham, would need to do two transfers (Regents Park and Bankstown). That's hardly convenient, but the way the lines are configured, no matter what is done some will be unhappy. I guess this solution is designed to minimise the number of passengers likely to find themselves needing such transfers. Were the above not the case, (e.g. if the majority of Liverpool line commuters travelled via Bankstown) there would be a strong operational argument for cross-platform transfer between Metro and Sydney Trains at Bankstown (Chatswood style). However, that would have meant a much more disruptive and expensive construction. In a perfect world, the Bankstown Metro would run to Liverpool via an entirely new line under Georges Hall and Chipping Norton. And maybe that will happen off somewhere in the far future. For the near future, faster Liverpool via Regents Park to City services would be a reasonable second prize for people in that area.
Congratulations on an objective, common sense explanation of the situation. One which is void of emotional, "we don't want anything to change but we want the government to improve everything" outbursts. Love your response. Thank you.
Hi Tacit, Thanks for your wonderful feedback on this video. A consultation process has already taken place for T3 services west of Bankstown. Here is a link to the PDF report. www.transport.nsw.gov.au/system/files/media/documents/2020/WB200814_WoB-Options%20Report_FINAL-WEB-AC.pdf. Basically, Liverpool services will run via Regents Park, so that is a good outcome for passengers form Sefton to Carramar. Lidcombe to Bankstown will be a shuttle service. It's not clear at what frequency, but I'm hoping it will double to every 15 minutes, as this will maintain the 15 minute frequency for Yagoona and Birrong. Yes you're absolutely right, these changes will inconvenience some passengers, but will benefit many more. And yes, it would be hard to justify a cross-platform connection for the relatively small number of interchange passengers. An extension to Liverpool is on the longer term Sydney Metro map, although I'm not sure of what the intermediate stops would be. I plan to do a separate video on the service pattern west of Bankstown.
I know the train from Liverpool to central via Bankstown is extremely slow, as soon as the train passes villawood ,that it's so slow that you could get to bankstown quicker by bus.
Another great vid Paul! It would be interesting to know what the travel time changes are from end to end between now and the opening of the Metro line - perhaps you could consider this for a future video?
Hi Matt, glad you enjoyed it. Someone else asked that question recently. I reckon the faster acceleration and shorter station dwell times will knock between 2 and 4 minutes off the current journey time from Bankstown to Sydenham. So that would be 20 to 22 mins as opposed to 24 mins now. Then I reckon Sydenham to Central via Waterloo will be about 6 minutes, possibly less. Bankstown to Central via the T3 calling at all stations is about 35 mins, so Metro will be about 26 to 28 mins. I'll see if I can find some official data on journey times and I can use this in a future video.
The biggest time savings will be the lack of wait times, with the worse case peak hour wait times at the minor stations changing from 15 minutes to 4 minutes
This was a fantastic video! I'd love another update after the New Year shutdown! Agreed that developing the station to future proof for a metro extension to Liverpool would have been better. I interpret that decision to mean that the chances of an extension to Liverpool anytime soon are vanishingly small.
Hi Lindsay, Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. Bankstown is included in some of my other more recent update videos, so do check those out. I'm planning to do another update covering Bankstown to Marrickville shortly after current 2 week shutdown. Yes I think the extension to Liverpool is quite a long way off unfortunately.
Certainly was worth the wait for this excellent video to come out. I only knew little about the designs before this video, but now I understand it much better! I am quite surprised they didn’t future proof the station for a potential extension to Liverpool, as now it will be much more expensive to extend it. And the connection between Sydney Trains and Sydney Metro will be quite inconvenient, especially in bad weather, due to the lack of a direct sheltered passageway between the two entrances. Could have been designed better, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Thanks again!
Thanks! Glad you understand it much better now. To extend the line to Liverpool would almost certainly require building new underground platforms at Bankstown Station (in a similar way to Epping), as I don't think there is enough space for additional platforms and junctions at surface level (especially on the west side). This would be hugely expensive, compared to this solution, and probably involve a longer interchange time, so I think this is right for now. I reckon the potential extension to Liverpool could be 20 or more years away, as I feel that some of the other extensions will happen first. The connection between Sydney Trains and Metro could be quite good if you travel in the correct carriages! If you travel in the front car of a metro train, then I reckon, you could do this interchange in 2 or 3 minutes. I agree that the plaza between the two entrances should be covered. That does seem like an oversight. It might happen if there has been enough feedback as part of the consultation process. As you say, let's see how it works when it opens!
A most informative VLOG as always Paul, thank you once again mate for posting. I tried also, just to sus out the Canterbury / Bankstown NSW local council website on that proposed and soon-to-be-developed project near Bankstown railway station, so as to hopefully provide you and others with some info on what is going on there. Well.......what a joke and confusing mind field of rot that I encountered, to the point of giving up.
Hi Dave, glad you enjoyed it! Yes it's a real mystery! I originally thought it was related to Sydney Metro until I read the planning documents and realised it wasn't! Hopefully someone in the know will let us all know in the comments soon!
Ahhh Paul, Bankstown station had a lift prior to 2015. It was a Hydraulic one which was installed in the very early 2000’s and the upgrade made it slightly bigger and changed the tick barrier layout which only to the left hand side or platform 1 side originally
Hi Nick, yes absolutely! I may even do more updates before then, in the same way as I've been doing for Sydenham, Marrickville & Chatswood Dive sites, Central etc.
@ 24:00. 'Heritage Interpretation'. Is that 21st century touchy feely words that officialdom now use for demolishing and sticking up some photos that will be forgotten about and graffitied? The amusing thing is that a good architect could have blended the parcels officein with the new metro entrance.
The current NSW Government is more about jobs for the boys than hiring competent professionals. I used to work for them, and saw managers hire their mates and drive out experienced specialists. I suspect it's why transport integrations and transfers have become such a shitshow, along with procurement of trains that don't fit NSW tunnels, trams that need to be put out of service for 18 months, and the only new regional trains I've seen in the whole world that don't have seatside power points.
Hi Mik, the Mariyung trains were never designed to fit the existing tunnels on the Blue Mountain lines without modifications to the tunnels. The alternative would have been shorter or thinner trains, so it made sense to widen the tunnels. That was always the plan. I agree that the cracks in the CAF Urbos 3 trams is not good, but the same problems happened in Wolverhampton in the UK, so it's not just an issue here. The new Mariyung trains will have charging points and I'm sure the replacements for the regional trains will have charging points as well.
Hi @AndyRob, yes that's about right, although I might see if I can get parts of this video included too! Hopefully it won't get graffitied. That would be sad. The location is the main issue, so unless people went through it, or the plaza was realigned (which would lengthen pedestrian journey times), it's going to be a tricky one. As with anything like this, it's a case of weighing up the benefits, and even this can be subjective sometimes. I'm not aware of any other heritage buildings going as a result of Sydney Metro, which is pleasing (well to me anyway).
The upgrade was to enable buses to go from one side of the station without the need to have customers get out on one side of the station (which was the Bankstown Square side), the buses either start there also or go all the way around the long way to start on the other side which was rare but did happen. Transit First (which is now Transdev) wanted the bus interchange to be on the otherwise so their buses didn’t have to go the long way around to get to the other side to start a different route and vice versa
Hi Paul, thanks for sharing this excellent video. I haven't been to Bankstown since the mid 1970's. Hence, a lot has more likely changed since then. Incidentally, when I first visited Bankstown as a child, they used to run a network of red double deck buses. I wasn't aware that Bankstown was to be the Metro terminus. From memory, if we stayed in the train from Marrickville to Bankstown, it was possible to continue on the inner west line and back into the city. Of course, this won't be possible with the Metro. BTW, how do you keep your camera so steady when walking? You do a great job with all your videos. Anyway, take care and all the very best. Robert.
You're very welcome Robert. Yes that's quite possible. They probably went to Lidcombe and then continued back to the CBD. Now they continue to either Liverpool (via Sefton) or Lidcombe. Of course that will all change in 2024! I usually walk fairly slowly and try to tread lightly! Sometimes, I use a mini handheld stick with my iPhone attached to it! Glad you're enjoying my videos!
@@TransportVlog Thanks for the advice regarding walking with the camera. You videos are really good. I think my problem is not helped by me having a bit of a limp, along with using an inexpensive pocket video camera. I gather the current trains don't go to Lidcombe via Bankstown anymore. This was the standard service when I was there back in the 1970's and we had to change trains at Lidcombe to go to Liverpool or Penrith from what I remember. Back in those days there was no East Hills access to Liverpool as it is today.
Many of the previous comments speculate how Sydney Trains will operate to Bankstown from Liverpool and Lidcombe. I reckon we could see the Central - Parramatta “stoppers” rerouted into Bankstown (Mon-Fri), and the stoppers from the City that terminate at Homebush on weekends, extended to Bankstown. I doubt a Lidcombe-Bankstown shuttle would happen, although possible. Then City-Liverpool via Regents Park becomes the norm, with Regents Park becoming the interchange? That comment should start some robust comments 😂😂 And no cover from the elements between Metro and Train stations - that’s just madness. Another thought provoking video Paul - always of interest 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Hi Andrew, the City to Liverpool via Regents Park is very likely! I do like the idea of the Parramatta stoppers being rerouted to Bankstown. That would make more sense that a Lidcombe to Bankstown shuttle, which I believe in the current option. There will be canopies over the first 3 cars of the metro train, within the station entrances (perhaps not the plaza though) and then from the new Sydney Trains entrance to the existing heritage building awnings. It's pretty common for platforms on train stations and even metro stations to have canopies on parts of the platform only. Rouse Hill and Kellyville are good examples. Glad you enjoyed this video!
What I find appalling is the current plans for Bankstown give no realistic options for the Governemnt to provide the well publicised announcement that the Metro will in time be extended to Liverpool. With the current redesign at Bankstown station how on earth can it be extended to Liverpool now unless they demolish the Metro platforms at bankstown in the future to dive the metro platforms underground. What a waste of money that would be to have to redesign Bankstown station yet again in 5-10 years time to get it extended further westward. Zero forward planning here in my opinion.
Hi Stephen, yes the current redesign does seem to conflict with the longer term plan to extend to Liverpool. I guess it was hard to justify the additional cost and disruption involved with building underground platforms for an extension that will happen sometime in the future.
@@TransportVlog ... Quite simply, they should have from the outset put Bankstown metro platforms underground and tunnel maybe a few hundred meters west to allow them to restart tunnelling in the future onwards to Liverpool. Again, politicians have no forward thinking.
@@stephenblomfield6 I think cost is a factor too! - It would be difficult to justify a dive site and new underground platforms for something that might happen in the future. Like anything in life, it comes down to money!
Thanks for the update Paul. I must’ve not realised they were going to cut off the first 2 cars of the platform as I only saw the stopping position will be revised to extend another 5-8 metres (i thought the first two cars of space was for a buffer stop). I do believe that it would be difficult to relocate the parcel office as after the plaza is built, there’s not going to be much space left. This finishes off the southwest metro 2021-2022 series, hopefully you can do another series when it gets closer to the closure/opening of metro. I’m looking forward to your new videos, any word on the continuation of the end of the line, transport access program and the sydney metro bella vista-epping and sydney metro epping-chatswood series?
You're very welcome. The original plan didn't involve changing the existing Bankstown platforms. There was a modification to include the public plaza and the new entrances which has resulted in this change. The precise measurements are 55 metres removed at the east end, and 70 metres added at the western end. Yes the parcels office is unfortunately now in the wrong place at the wrong time! I will be doing a brief update on Punchbowl to Marrickville quite soon, as a few significant changes happened during the last 2 week shutdown. Yes the end of the line, and the front of train videos of the existing metro line will happen fairly soon. Sydney Metro West is also likely to feature quite prominently as well. Basically, I've been playing catch-up since the lockdown, hence so many "update" videos.
@@TransportVlog I'm completely invested into this metro project. Holds a lot of firsts for Sydney and Australia, gets it's praises and critics. Not much that I see a problem for most of the Southwest Metro, but Bankstown is one. Liverpool via Regents Park should be a must do after the station but Yagoona and Birrong are the ones left alone. I believe the government has the plans to futureproof the station for a direct Liverpool extension but at the moment with a plaza in the middle, it would ruin the chances unless the metro had a dive site. My only thought was that with a Liverpool extension, the metro would have to serve Yagoona and Birrong to at least save them from being the ones finished because of the metro. My solution be to have an extra metro line to Parramatta that terminates at Bankstown and the current SW line extend to Liverpool. Bankstown-Parramatta would probably be ground level, goes through Yagoona, Birrong, goes under freight/liverpool/lidcombe junction, resufarces or stays under to Regents Park for interchange, then straight to Lidcombe (best suited underground), then Olympic Park and runs along side Metro West to finish at Parramatta. Bankstown to Liverpool would run underground, dive site should be right around the bridge under Stacey Street and then have an underground station at Bankstown, route from Bankstown to Liverpool can be whatever, but it might be likely that from Liverpool it would be extended to take over the Leppington line and then connect with Metro WSA. This way a Metro circle around Sydney could still be possible, and then another Metro line connecting somewhere like Kogarah or Hurstville, then goes to the Airport partially parallel to the T4 but more towards the coast, then to Maroubra, Kingsford, Bondi (near the beach), then possibly connect to Bondi Junction. PS. West part of my suggestion runs similar to many other comments have suggested.
@@givendiau Yes I like the idea of a future metro serving Yagoona and Birrong and your other suggestions make a lot of sense! I Of all the proposed lines on the current Sydney Metro map, I feel that the La Perouse / Kogarah line is probably the one that would happen next, but I may be wrong!
This seems to be a lot of work just to replace a perfectly fine Sydney trains connection. I had thought the metro lines were to run parallel to the existing line, but they're replacing the whole line? How would an extension to Liverpool work? Will there be a dive site so metro trains can get into the underground section? If so, why bother splitting one station into two instead is just building it like Epping?
Yes that's right, the metro trains will replace the existing Sydney Trains service between Sydenham and Bankstown. I reckon that when the Liverpool extension is approved (and this could be many years away), they will build underground platforms similar to Epping with a dive site on the approach to Bankstown Station. The new Bankstown metro terminus is a pretty low cost option in comparison to building underground, which is probably why they went for this option for now.
Glad you found me! The inspiration for doing this came from Geoff Marshall! I hope that one day he comes to visit Australia, and I can take him to Wondabyne, to do a least used station!
Hi Alex, Thanks! - This video ended up being quite a lot longer than expected! An extension to Liverpool is still part of the longer term plan. However, I reckon to do that, they would need to built a new underground metro station at Bankstown with a dive site somewhere between Punchbowl and Bankstown.
The reason why Old Town Plaza is set to be demolished is this. It used to be a two storey building with various businesses occupying it. A few years ago, an arsonist burnt it down. It is suspected that the arsonist may have had an issue with a lawyer who had an office there.
Thanks for that Rick! That would explain the lack of information about this! On my last visit (about 1 month ago), it was looking better than it had for a while, so I think some repairs might have started.
Fascinating video. I'm quite surprised by some of the changes. I thought they would make some accommodations for a future Hurstville/Kogarah -Bankstown - Parramatta Metro line, but it seems like that would have to be a new underground line through this area.
Glad you enjoyed it! I'm not aware of any plans for a metro line linking Hurstville/Kogarah -Bankstown - Parramatta. There any possible plans for a line from the CBD that would run via the Airport and then terminate at Kogarah, with another branch going to La Perouse.
@@TransportVlog I have occasionally visited Bankstown station and I often wondered what the upgrade would look like. I’m surprised the vast majority of the existing station would be retained with a new section to be built east of the existing station. So there’s no plans at this stage to extend Sydney metro from Bankstown to Liverpool no and unlikely to be built for many years?
@@williamwalker8106 There is a longer term proposal to extend the metro to Liverpool, but via a new and more direct route than the current rail line. I reckon this is 20 or more years away. At that time, they would probably built underground platforms at Bankstown station, similar to Epping. So at the moment, the existing station won't change much, except for it becoming a terminus station with the platform extending more to the west.
Hi Athol, yes that's right, although if you travel in the front coach, I reckon you could do this interchange in 2 or 3 minutes. The perfect solution would have been a cross platform interchange (like at Chatswood), but I guess that would have been too expensive and possibly too disruptive during the construction phase.
Hey Paul, great video, love the content, I was looking at some Sydney metro videos and they might extend the Bankstown line to Liverpool, would you reckon that this idea would happen because this plaza blocks the railway between the Sydney Trains and Sydney Metro, also I love watching these really informative videos :D
Hi Celeb, Glad you're enjoying my videos. I reckon that for the Liverpool extension (which could be 20 or more years away) , they will build a new underground station underneath the existing Bankstown station (similar to Epping). The lines would then go underground somewhere after Punchbowl and perhaps reappear above ground on the western outskirts of Bankstown, or stay underground all the way to Liverpool.
A shame to be losing the heritage-listed former Parcels Office building. I find the building to be quite novel in the era of so much architectural blandness. Surely it is of sufficient architectural merit to, at the very least, deserve relocation of the entire structure? Would it not make sense to incorporate the old, relocated structure into the new Sydney Metro station? The new Metro services building does bear some semblance to the soon to be forever "archived" parcels office building. Regardless, the answer to both of my questions appears to be "Obviously not". A great pity. I am glad, however, to see the north and south sides of Bankstown being linked and opened up. Another great video Paul, as always.
Yes it will be a shame to see it go. Relocation was certainly considered. You can read more about it in this document - www.sydneymetro.info/sites/default/files/2021-12/Bankstown_Station_Design_and_Precinct_Plan.pdf - page 49 talks about the parcel office. The services buildings for each station are being built from scratch, so I guess these buildings have specific requirements that can't be met by reusing existing buildings. Yes it will be good to see the north and south sides of Bankstown station being opened up. Glad you enjoyed this video.
Given that there are provisions for future metro extension to liverpool, i wonder if they will have to demolish the future public plaza and sydney trains station to make way for the metro extension
Hi Alvin, I reckon that for the Liverpool extension (which could be 20 or more years away) , they will build a new underground station underneath the existing Bankstown station (similar to Epping). The lines would then go underground somewhere after Punchbowl and perhaps reappear above ground on the western outskirts of Bankstown, or stay underground all the way to Liverpool. I hope I'll still be alive to see what happens!
Thanks for the video, why would there need to be 2 platforms if its a terminator, strange to have to tap out then back in to change trains, likely there isn’t much through traffic.
Hi Bevan, glad you enjoyed it. With a train every 4 minutes at peak times, I'm sure the second platform will be used. Yes through passengers will need to tap off and back on again. This is because passengers can start and end their journeys at both the Sydney Metro station entrance and the new additional Sydney Trains entrance. However, as you say, it's only really passengers heading for Birrong or Yagoona that would do this, so it won't be that many.
One thing I'm unsure about in the design is the layout of the metro station in relation to the future plans of Sydney Metro. NSW Government have shown in their plans that there is a future ambition to extend the City & Southwest to Liverpool via the Bankstown Aerodrome and Chipping Norton. However, with the way the station is planned to be laid out, I'm struggling to see how the line can be extended to Liverpool in the future, should there be a desire to do it. It feels like this design was taken without the consideration of future ambitions, and that a major rebuild of the station would be needed if such an extension were to be built.
Hi Francis, great question! If the line was extended to Liverpool, they would probably create a dive site just after Punchbowl Station that would lead to platforms under Bankstown Station, and then the line would continue underground through Bankstown and then perhaps a mix of underground and above ground sections to Liverpool. The dive site and underground platforms could have been built now, but it would have been hugely expensive and disruptive, which was the reason for going with the above ground terminating platforms. Hope this answers your question.
Thanks for this informative and very clear video! Kinda forgot what would happen to the Bankstown station and thought it would be a sub-grade station due to the extension to Liverpool! With this Terminus being at-grade, would that mean there would be no extension to Liverpool in the future?
Glad you enjoyed it. If they extend to Liverpool in the future, they will build a tunnel portal west of Punchbowl and this will lead to a new underground station in Bankstown. I reckon the line would then continue underground for a while, but hopefully not all the way to Liverpool!
@@TransportVlog Hmmm, I see what you mean! That would honestly make the routing and services quite interesting! Would certainly like to see some SkyRail options to Liverpool and wonder if it may be connected to the Aerotropolis, tho that seems like a far distant future plan atm :P Curious if there will be another update early in 2024? (unsure what's the status of the line, has the line closure been delayed?)
11:59 Apologies about the ensuring rant but why exactly does the building need to go only to be replaced with a "heritage interpretation" (aka developer's wet dream with a stupid art piece in the centre of a new development)? Thats like bulldizing the building and building it in the exact position with no difference. Good video, nice having these updates regardibg infastructure
Hi Clam, Glad you liked this video update. Basically the heritage parcels office is blocking the proposed plaza. The heritage interpretation is likely to be a series of information panels that will be around the edge of the plaza, so it won't be a physical building. Hope this makes sense.
given the station access for the metro is at ground level, how are they going to extend the line further west to Liverpool without disrupting the public plaza.
Great question! - I reckon if and when this happens (and it would be 20 years or more away), they will build a dive site after Punchbowl station that will lead to underground platforms at Bankstown Station (similar to Epping). The line would probably the continue underground until outside of the Bankstown city area, and then be a mix of over and underground to Liverpool. The Liverpool extension would be a completely different (and more direct) route to the current T3 line. Hope this answers your question.
@@TransportVlog Would have thought building an underground platform now would make more sense than wasting money on building on existing platform given an extension to Liverpool is well publicized. Tallawong station has a future pass through to marsden park.
@@curiosity341 I reckon the cost of the current terminus at Bankstown is probably around 10% of the cost of an underground terminus, so it's a huge saving and is also much quicker to build. Tallawong being a new station (and above ground) was easier to build with the future in mind. I agree that it's not a perfect solution, but I think it will work pretty well until the line is extended.
Thanks for another great video Paul how many platforms would there be on the Bankstown station where would the platforms all be located and would you be able to use your Opal card on the new Metro line
Hi Stavros, Glad you enjoyed this video. There will be 2 new platforms for the metro and Opal cards can be used on the new Metro Line. Refer to 17:30 in this video for the location of the new platforms.
Hey Paul, nothing to do with Bankstown but there seems to be 10 car markers at Sydenham station so I was having a thought that maybe there might be more intercity services stopping at Sydenham when the metro line opens, either that or they are just there for the once a day service that stops there?
Hi Flynn, I hadn't noticed the 10 car markers at Sydenham Station! I think there is a good chance that intercity services will stop at Sydenham once the metro opens. I'll take a closer look next time I'm at Sydenham station. Thanks for pointing this out.
I grew up in Revesby during the 1960s and 1970s. I would travel by bus to the Bankstown area to do some shopping for my mother. There was no public plaza back then. The roads were open. Those were good old days when I used the old Red Rattlers to go to the city for work. There were no Asians in that area nor any shops to cater for them. I don't live In Sydney metro area anymore since 2001. I moved up here to a nice spot in the Gold Coast area of Queensland. I never used the trains up here because buses and trams provide excellent services.
Thanks for sharing your memories of Bankstown! I hope to get up to the Gold Coast one day to cover your tram service and the train that doesn't quite make it Gold Coast proper!
Some other stations of the same design as the heritage Bankstown station have a coloured glass with the station name in it, it might have had a light behind it. I don’t know if Bankstown has one or probably vandalized decades ago. Other examples that I can think of is Condoblin and Morree.
Very sad that the old Parcels office will be demolished, I can't se why it has to be and can't just be part of the park where it is. Sure there will be a "heritage interpritation" but it's just not the same. The plaza itself looks boring, generic and uninspired. Words cannot explain how much I hate the Sydney Metro Bankstown Line.
I don't know the answer to that as yet. I'm sure they'll be many different bus services running during the final closure and I reckon most will run to Sydenham to connect with Metro and Train services there. However, buses could also run to stations on the T2 and T8. I'm sure they'll be a comprehensive service, similar to the one for the Epping to Chatswood closure.
Anyone have any idea why Birrong & Yagoona didn’t end up on the metro ? As it is going to be built now it seems those two stations and Bankstown are going to be on a tiny spur of T3. That doesn’t seem to auger well for their viability. I’m not imagining there will be much interchange between the metro & T3.
Hi Francesco, No I don't know why Birrong & Yagoona didn't end up on the metro. If the proposed Bankstown to Lidcombe shuttle can run every 15 minutes, then this will certainly help maintain patronage at these 2 stations. I'll do a separate video on this, once I know more about the likely service pattern and frequency.
Great video by the way. Not sure shouldn't have just demolished the original weatherboard building given its more dominated by the add on's and virtually hidden. Not sure it's really been 'saved' it's been chopped up that much.
Yagoona and Birrong will be the stations missing out, served by shuttle Bankstown to Lidcombe service. Liverpool via Regents Park and Liverpool via Granville will become what it used to be in the 80s
The '80s? As recently as 2013, actually. I suspect a lot of people will be missing direct access to the Bankstown line, even after the clumsy, newly required change at Lidcombe is finally eliminated. I was furious, when my partner lived at Sefton, and I had to change trains twice to get to her from Lewisham, when it was previously a straight shot. Now when I'm at Marrickville, and getting to Sefton is going to require a walk in the rain at Bankstown, and possibly a second change, instead of a straight shot.
@Woodland26, Yes Yagoona and Birrong will miss out, unless services from both Liverpool and Lidcombe terminate at Bankstown (which is one of the options being considered). The preferred option is for Liverpool Trains to run via Sefton, Regents Park, Lidcombe and then on to the city, so not via Granville. The best option (in my view) would be a 15 minute service between Liverpool and Sefton with alternate trains going via Lidcombe to the City and the others continuing to Bankstown. The existing Lidcombe to Bankstown service would then continue with a 30 minute frequency. This is definitely the subject of another video!
Hi @Mik, Sefton to Lewisham may be direct again in the future (if the train stops at Lewisham). See my comment above. I reckon you'll be able to avoid getting wet at Bankstown if you travel in the front 3 cars, as this should all be covered with canopies and the heritage platform awnings, but yes you will have to change trains unfortunately.
@@TransportVlog I look forward to that video! And whenever I look at the rail map, I wonder if it would make sense to have done the metro conversion all the way to Olympic Park, via Lidcombe. If the metro is supposed to have shorter dwell times and headway than heavy rail, it would've been fantastic for major events at the Olympic Park, and connected the two metro lines. And once again, it would've eliminated the new mode change at Bankstown. It would've necessitated a new tunnel at Lidcombe, but Sydney has been building tunnels pretty much constantly since the '80s, so I don't see that as a big cost, especially compared to the benefit. I wonder if it was actually considered properly.
Another fantastic video with so much research done and info provided! Quick question, so Bankstown will still service Sydney Trains for Yagoona and Birrong stations rather then becoming a full Sydney Metro station?
Thanks Julian, thanks for your feedback and glad you enjoyed this video. Yes that's right, Bankstown will still be the Sydney Trains station for services to Lidcombe via Yagoona, Birrong, Regents Park and Berala. Some Liverpool services could also terminate at Bankstown, but that is still to be decided. Most Liverpool services are likely to run via Sefton, Regents Park and Lidcombe and then on to the City, so bypassing Bankstown. The future services west of Bankstown is worthy of its own video! - so I'll add this to my list.
I'll most likely never like the Southwest Sydney Metro as so much heritage listed items will be completely changed or lost in the process. Not to mention about services being privatised.
The heritage platforms buildings are staying at all stations from Marrickville to Bankstown. I believe the former Parcels Office is the only heritage building that is going.
How will the metro be extended beyond Bankstown towards Liverpool as was proposed if the platforms are a ground level? I think a better idea would of been to raise thr line eliminating the low bridge underneath & building new platforms above the existing platforms with stairs & lifts to interchange between the two systems. This would then allow for future extensions of thr metro towards Liverpool & The Nancy Bird Walton Airport.
Hi Ray, if and when this happens (and it could be 10 or 20 years in the future), I reckon they will built a Dive Site just after Punchbowl station to allow the lines to serve underground platforms at Bankstown (similar to Epping). The line may well stay underground for some or all of the route to Liverpool. However, your suggestion of building new platforms above the existing ones could work well too. I guess it depends on whether the line beyond Bankstown would be below or above ground.
The parcels office building should be repurposed and relocated to the proposal location of the services building!! What a damn shame that it’s going to be demolished!! I don’t get it?!
Hi Kris, I don't know what it is about Services Buildings, but they have all been built from scratch so far. Not sure if you've watched my videos on the changes to other stations on the Bankstown Line. Each station will have its own purpose built Services Building and they all follow a similar design. I agree, it will be a shame to see the former parcels office go.
There looks to be zero consideration for how the 40s weatherboard booking office was incorporated into the concourse. There is a severe clash of styles and architecture, like the heritage of the building was a non-thought.
Hi Nick, I guess some compromises had to be made when incorporating a modern concourse into the booking office building that was probably designed for fewer passenger than we have today.
Is it just me or did a lot of that video footage appear a bit odd. I'm not sure if there was something funny about the colours or textures in the video, but it looked like it was all CGI rather than actual footage.
Willl the Bankstown metro station be a single level station, not a multi level station hence there will be no lifts? And will it be built east of the existing Bankstown station, closer to the Bankstown central shopping centre?
Yes that's right! Lifts are normally required to get over (or under) the tracks, but in this case, there are no tracks, so no lifts required. And yes, it will be closer to the Bankstown Shopping centre. I reckon about 5 minutes closer on foot.
@@TransportVlog so I understand that a section of track will be cut, and split, with one side for Sydney trains and the other side of track for Sydney metro with a walk way in between. So there would be 2 one level buildings, one for Sydney trains and one for Sydney metro, am I correct?
Poor bastards who travel between Yagoona (and beyond) to-and-from the Sydenahm direction every day. It'll be pleasant to have to break the trip twice a day in, say, the pouring rain. The most natural thing in the world will be to extend the Metro to Lidcombe, so it's very surprising that they didn't leave the connection in place at Bankstown. Still, what's another $X million to reconnect when the time comes?
17:00 Interesting, isn't it, that none of these artists impressions feature people in traditional Muslim dress, even though it's BANKSTOWN! These planners are that out of touch with the community they're supposed to be serving. The plaza looks nice, but the transport integration is a hack job that will severely inconvenience commuters further down the line.
Hi Mik, Yes good point about the artist impression images! It's not a perfect solution and finishing the Metro at Bankstown is going to affect people further down the line, but it will benefit many more people overall.
Hi Jack, yes it would have been good to have a cross platform interchange, and it does look like there is space on either side of the station to make that happen.
Thanks Paul for this informative update. Unfortunately it makes me even more upset with the destruction of the Bankstown Train line. Removal of over 10,000 seats during peak hour. Longer travel times from Bankstown to Central and a number of stations on the Bankstown line when you look at fast trains we have now will be all stations under the metro. Commuters past Bankstown on the express services missing out on a fast trip to the city that they have now. A very bad connection from trains past Bankstown onto Metro trains. Total cutting of the train line with a plaza so that it can never be changed without major expense. Like the metro tunnels on its whole route being 45 cm too short to ever convert to double deck operation. Metro no integration to existing city rail services - no link at the end of North West Metro to Schofield when you look at Google earth only 1 km to connect an amazing opportunity missed. New airport metro line not connected to end of Edmonston Park rail line not 4 kms.
Hi Wayne, Glad you enjoyed this update. Less there will definitely be less seats, but that will be partly offset by a higher frequency (every 4 minutes at peak times). The combination of faster acceleration and shorter dwell times at stations should shave at least 2 minutes off the current journey time from Bankstown to Sydenham, so thats 24 mins to 22 mins. I reckon Sydenham to Central via Waterloo will take 6 minutes, as opposed to around 11 minutes via St Peters & Redfern. So that's a total journey time of 28 minutes from Bankstown to Central by Sydney Metro. This compares favourably with the all stations service (currently 35 mins) and the limited stop service (currently 30 mins). Feel free to check my maths, but I think I've got it right! Passengers between Liverpool and Sefton will have a direct service to the City via Regents Park and Lidcombe. I don't know the proposed journey time, but I reckon it will be similar to the current limited stops service via Bankstown. Some of the integrations you mention are planned for the future and Sydney Metro will integrate with the T4 at Martin Place and the Pitt Street stop is very close to Town Hall (for people that want to access this area). Whilst I love double decker trains, they do have some disadvantages in terms of acceleration and station dwell times. Whilst Sydney Metro is not perfect, it is good to see 3 metro lines being built over the next few years and hopefully more will follow (along with other traditional rail schemes) to fill the gaps you mentioned. I believe extending the rail line from Leppington to the Western Sydney Airport is already being considered.
Hi Paul I discovered last night that the new Metro platforms at Bankstown station will only cater for 6 car metro trains and as you have stated on another video about the stabling yard being Built at Sydenham that it will handle 6 car metro trains. So we will have 15 metro trains per hour in peak hour or 90 cars. Currently we have 8 trains double deck with 8 carriages. This is equivalent to 128 single deck cars. Eg assuming for a double deck car equaling 2 single deck cars. So even though we are hang nearly double the number of trains we will be having 38 less cars leading to mass overcrowding on the Bankstown line with the majority of people standing.
Hi. Could you please use month rather than season (eg summer 2022) in the video title? Because the South Hemisphere season can cause north hemisphere fans confused. Thanks🙂
Good point!, and lovely to hear that you're watching this from the northern hemisphere. I often use seasons if I've filmed over several different months, for example October to January in this case, so I'll have to think about how this might work going forward.
Hi Paul, you never disappoint and this presentation is one of your best. I have great memories of the parcel vans that once plied the rails and was lucky enough to ride these as a child. There are still some parcel office platforms and buildings scattered around the network but are hardly recognisable. I also remember when it was possible to book your luggage through to your local station such as Bankstown when travelling on long distance services but the only negative was having to sometimes wait until the day after your arrival to retrieve your luggage. I had an uncle who worked on these vans and he sometimes threw parcels onto the platform while the van slowed almost to a stop. I must admit that he wasn't the most careful railway employee at the time. Thanks again Paul for this excellent presentation.
Hi John, thanks for your lovely feedback. So glad you enjoyed this video! Lovely to hear about your memories of these parcels vans from your childhood days! Interesting about how you used to be able to book your luggage to your local station. How things have changed! I don't think rail safety was taken quite so seriously back then! - I'll keep a look out for remanences of any other parcels office platforms.
I have a story about a lady in 1978 who booked her luggage from Spencer St Station to Echuca. She just handed it to the luggage counter. At Bendigo she changed trains to the Echuca rail motor. However she didn’t see her luggage get unloaded at Bendigo. The Echuca station has two railways joining it just like Griffith. In those days it was also possible to board a Shepparton train and change at Toolamba for the train to Echuca. This is what happened to this lady’s luggage, she went via Bendigo and her luggage went via Toolamba and arrived ten minutes before she did and was waiting on the platform at Echuca.
No airline can do what the VR did routinely.
@@darylcheshire1618 Wow! that's a wonderful story! I supposed there was no reason for the luggage to be on the same train as her!
@@TransportVlog True, if you didn’t indicate a preference at the luggage counter.
Thank you Paul lovely comment , I arrived at Bankstown in 1971 now that’s a distant memory
You're very welcome.
Interesting to see how the Sydney Metro Bankstown line will look like. I'm really going to miss what the old station used to look like back pre Metro. Very sad but things just change. Good work on the documentary you put.
Yes it certainly is! You still have a couple of years to enjoy the old station, and watch the new construction work too! Glad you enjoyed this video.
Thanks Paul. Very clear explanations of the works. I was unaware of the new pedestrian plaza that will hopefully help to inject some life and appropriate development around the station(s). It is sad to see the old parcels building go, as it is quite unique.
Yes, this was quite a recent change! It should help better connect both sides of Bankstown. Yes it will be sad to see it go!
I'm now even more baffled about why the Metro will terminate at Bankstown, instead of connecting to the existing heavy rail at either Regents Park or Sefton. I hoped there might be plans to eventually extend the metro more directly to Liverpool, or the new airport at Badgerys Creek, but if they're demolishing heritage buildings for a plaza, it looks like a pretty permanent metro terminus. The result is going to be a series of inconvenient transfers for many people in the area, along lines that were single-seat rides before the change of government. There won't even a covered walkway for the newly required transfer at Bankstown!
I welcome the Metro and new 'light rail' (pity they had to pull the trams out for 18 months!), but the lack of integration with other services at Parramatta, Pyrmont, Lewisham, Rozelle and Schofields, and sloppy integration at Bankstown and Dulwich Hill, is extremely disappointing, and frankly American. It's an inconvenience we'll have to live with for generations, unfortunately.
Anyhow, thanks for the vid, as much as it saddens me.
Sydney should have been reconfigured into more like a grid. The route from Bankstown to lidcombe is Essentially north south not east west, so could go in such a vector up.to silverwater or even Parramatta
Hi Mik, yes there is a longer term plan to extend to Liverpool via a more direct route. See map via this link - tvlog.info/metromap. Lots of people have mentioned about the lack of a covered walkway between the 2 stations entrances, so hopefully that got picked up in the consultation process. The Dulwich Hill connection with light rail is being improved. I covered this in this video. th-cam.com/video/yq2offXBCGg/w-d-xo.html. Glad you enjoyed this video.
@@TransportVlog Thanks. Considering the northwest rail line was supposed to be carrying passengers 'by the end of the '80s' when I moved to Baulkham Hills as a kid, I'm not sure I'll live to see the metro extended beyond Bankstown. I hope I'm wrong, but if not, it's still extremely disappointing that they're demolishing heritage buildings for what would be a temporary plaza.
Very informative video. Photography was excellent. The brick buildings are architecturally and visually appealing.
Thanks Steven, glad you enjoyed the information and the footage. It was al taken on my iPhone 11, so no fancy camera gear! (well not yet anyway!).
Thank you Paul , I was always wondered what’s the upgrade. But you clarified it. Well done
You're very welcome Wael. Glad it helped you understand what is happening. There are a couple of more recent updates for Bankstown, so do check those out as well.
Once again another great vlog from Paul full of meaningful info and professional quality video. And for those who have uploaded to TH-cam knows, the preproduction and postproduction are very demanding of time and effort.
So many thanks Paul.
And I’m so glad the planners have made the effort to retain much of the existing facilities in their plans, such as the existing platforms for the Sydney trains.
Hi David, Thanks for your lovely feedback. Yes the editing and narration takes a lot of time. The filming is the easy part! However, it gets easier and a little quicker with each video. Yes absolutely! It's good to see so many of the heritage platform buildings remaining on the Bankstown Line stations too!
Brilliant run-down, Paul. Born in 1942 I can remember an even earlier ticket barrier (pre-1948) opening directly on to the overhead roadway from South Terrace to North Terrace. My mother (b 1920) recalled her father catching a steam train from Bankstown (the end of the line) to his job as a statistician at Head Office NSWGR at Central, On rainy days she carried a towel for him to wipe his feet after fording the creek in Marion Street!. How it has all changed!
One question. If they eventually continue the Metro on to Liverpool from Bankstown how will they cope with the new ground-level Plaza? Sydney Trains will have to be wound back, too.
Hi Geoffrey, thanks for your sharing your history of Bankstown station. How things have changed! If and when they extend to Liverpool (and this could be 20 or more years away), I reckon the line will go underground west of Punchbowl Station and new underground through platforms would be built below the existing Bankstown Station (similar to what we currently have at Epping). It is proposed that the metro line to Liverpool would follow a different route, so the Sydney Train lines would continue to run to Bankstown. These are just my ideas, but I reckon are the most likely scenario. Glad you enjoyed this video.
Wow, thanks so much. The detail was amazing and you explained it so well! Much appreciated!
Thanks! I appreciate your lovely feedback!
Great video.
I'm somewhat surprised that the Sydney Trains platform will be extended to 8-cars, as I'd have thought they would really only need to run 4-car shuttle on the relatively short section that will remain.
Agree with some of the comments above that much of this work will need to be demolished or reworked (at great cost) if they extend the Metro to Liverpool. It's a shame that the design didn't incorporate this future extension from the start - which likely would have necessitated a more expensive underground Metro station.
Ideally I think Bankstown would be the crossover for the Metro to Liverpool
And another North - South one from say Kogarah - Bankstown - Lidcombe - Olympic Park, reusing the remainder of the surface Bankstown - Lidcombe track
Hi Mark, yes I was a little surprised too, although it does give operational flexibility to use Waratah Trains. Also the service pattern isn't finalised, and there is a chance that some trains could continue beyond Lidcombe to the CBD. If the Liverpool extension happens (and it could be 20 or more years away if it does), then I reckon they will build that more expensive new underground station underneath the existing Bankstown station. The lines would then go underground somewhere after Punchbowl and perhaps reappear above ground on the western outskirts of Bankstown, or stay underground all the way to Liverpool. I reckon if another metro line gets the go-ahead during this decade, it will likely be an extension of Sydney Metro West from Hunter Street to the Mascot Airport and then Kogarah with a branch to La Perouse.
@@TransportVlog IMO, the best metro expansion would be St Marys to Westmead and Epping to Parramatta.
A great video, your hard work and knowledge of the rail system is Wonderful. I’m grateful for the video and the hours put into producing it. Well done and thank you.
Thanks Anthony, I appreciate your lovely feedback.
Thank you for your hard work Paul. An incredible video and just what I was looking for.
You're very welcome Daniel, Glad it helped you understand the work happening at Bankstown Station.
Congratulations on another terrific video! Great improvement!
Thanks Jim!
Thanks Paul. I’ve been waiting in anticipation for this vlog! Also I have seen a vlog on YT about a future dive site at Bankstown for the metro to continue on under Condell Park Bankstown airport Chipping Norton, Liverpool Then back above ground from Preston’s and other suburbs to the new western Sydney airport. Unfortunately I cannot find that content again
Hi Michael, Glad you enjoyed this vlog! If this Liverpool extension video appears again, do let me know!
Great video. It’s nice to see all the changes at Bankstown station. Whenever I am Sydney, I stay at the Travelodge Bankstown, so I walk over to this station to catch the train into the CBD.
Hi Josh, Glad you enjoyed this video. The Bankstown line to the City is very interesting now, so hope you can travel on it again soon!
Also the building which are to be demolished on the plaza Hip hop store is and to the left were originally a Coles new world store that caught fire and had to be demolished due to sure damage. This also slightly weakened the concrete which was 30-40+ old and trains had to go slow for many, many years until it was restrengthened before the upgrade to the station could occur
Hi Alex, thanks for this. If there is any information on the internet about this, please do let me know about it.
Thanks Paul. A wonderfully detailed and informative report, as always.
The suggested operating pattern beyond Bankstown is interesting. In my experience, comparatively few people go to/from the city from the Liverpool side of Bankstown, because the service takes noticeably longer than via Granville, including a long stop at Bankstown itself. At Bankstown, it was always noticeable that a city bound train from Liverpool would empty of most passengers and a new lot would get on bound for the city.
Commuters would probably be happy to see a restoration of Liverpool to City via Regents Park services, as they were always quicker and more lightly loaded than those via Granville. That leaves most people likely needing to transfer between Metro and Sydney Trains at Bankstown being those heading to / from Lidcombe on a shuttle service. But it also means anyone wanting to travel between, say Caramar/Sefton to Punchbowl/Sydenham, would need to do two transfers (Regents Park and Bankstown). That's hardly convenient, but the way the lines are configured, no matter what is done some will be unhappy. I guess this solution is designed to minimise the number of passengers likely to find themselves needing such transfers.
Were the above not the case, (e.g. if the majority of Liverpool line commuters travelled via Bankstown) there would be a strong operational argument for cross-platform transfer between Metro and Sydney Trains at Bankstown (Chatswood style). However, that would have meant a much more disruptive and expensive construction.
In a perfect world, the Bankstown Metro would run to Liverpool via an entirely new line under Georges Hall and Chipping Norton. And maybe that will happen off somewhere in the far future. For the near future, faster Liverpool via Regents Park to City services would be a reasonable second prize for people in that area.
Congratulations on an objective, common sense explanation of the situation. One which is void of emotional, "we don't want anything to change but we want the government to improve everything" outbursts. Love your response. Thank you.
@@johngore8096 Thanks. Can't help myself. Always subverting the dominant paradigm.
Hi Tacit, Thanks for your wonderful feedback on this video. A consultation process has already taken place for T3 services west of Bankstown. Here is a link to the PDF report. www.transport.nsw.gov.au/system/files/media/documents/2020/WB200814_WoB-Options%20Report_FINAL-WEB-AC.pdf. Basically, Liverpool services will run via Regents Park, so that is a good outcome for passengers form Sefton to Carramar. Lidcombe to Bankstown will be a shuttle service. It's not clear at what frequency, but I'm hoping it will double to every 15 minutes, as this will maintain the 15 minute frequency for Yagoona and Birrong. Yes you're absolutely right, these changes will inconvenience some passengers, but will benefit many more. And yes, it would be hard to justify a cross-platform connection for the relatively small number of interchange passengers. An extension to Liverpool is on the longer term Sydney Metro map, although I'm not sure of what the intermediate stops would be. I plan to do a separate video on the service pattern west of Bankstown.
@@TransportVlog Thanks for your comprehensive reply and the link to the document. It seems like the most satisfactory solution to me.
I know the train from Liverpool to central via Bankstown is extremely slow, as soon as the train passes villawood ,that it's so slow that you could get to bankstown quicker by bus.
Another great vid Paul! It would be interesting to know what the travel time changes are from end to end between now and the opening of the Metro line - perhaps you could consider this for a future video?
Hi Matt, glad you enjoyed it. Someone else asked that question recently. I reckon the faster acceleration and shorter station dwell times will knock between 2 and 4 minutes off the current journey time from Bankstown to Sydenham. So that would be 20 to 22 mins as opposed to 24 mins now. Then I reckon Sydenham to Central via Waterloo will be about 6 minutes, possibly less. Bankstown to Central via the T3 calling at all stations is about 35 mins, so Metro will be about 26 to 28 mins. I'll see if I can find some official data on journey times and I can use this in a future video.
The biggest time savings will be the lack of wait times, with the worse case peak hour wait times at the minor stations changing from 15 minutes to 4 minutes
@@raph6931 Yes absolutely!
This was a fantastic video! I'd love another update after the New Year shutdown! Agreed that developing the station to future proof for a metro extension to Liverpool would have been better. I interpret that decision to mean that the chances of an extension to Liverpool anytime soon are vanishingly small.
Hi Lindsay, Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. Bankstown is included in some of my other more recent update videos, so do check those out. I'm planning to do another update covering Bankstown to Marrickville shortly after current 2 week shutdown. Yes I think the extension to Liverpool is quite a long way off unfortunately.
Certainly was worth the wait for this excellent video to come out. I only knew little about the designs before this video, but now I understand it much better! I am quite surprised they didn’t future proof the station for a potential extension to Liverpool, as now it will be much more expensive to extend it. And the connection between Sydney Trains and Sydney Metro will be quite inconvenient, especially in bad weather, due to the lack of a direct sheltered passageway between the two entrances. Could have been designed better, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Thanks again!
Thanks! Glad you understand it much better now. To extend the line to Liverpool would almost certainly require building new underground platforms at Bankstown Station (in a similar way to Epping), as I don't think there is enough space for additional platforms and junctions at surface level (especially on the west side). This would be hugely expensive, compared to this solution, and probably involve a longer interchange time, so I think this is right for now. I reckon the potential extension to Liverpool could be 20 or more years away, as I feel that some of the other extensions will happen first. The connection between Sydney Trains and Metro could be quite good if you travel in the correct carriages! If you travel in the front car of a metro train, then I reckon, you could do this interchange in 2 or 3 minutes. I agree that the plaza between the two entrances should be covered. That does seem like an oversight. It might happen if there has been enough feedback as part of the consultation process. As you say, let's see how it works when it opens!
A most informative VLOG as always Paul, thank you once again mate for posting. I tried also, just to sus out the Canterbury / Bankstown NSW local council website on that proposed and soon-to-be-developed project near Bankstown railway station, so as to hopefully provide you and others with some info on what is going on there. Well.......what a joke and confusing mind field of rot that I encountered, to the point of giving up.
Hi Dave, glad you enjoyed it! Yes it's a real mystery! I originally thought it was related to Sydney Metro until I read the planning documents and realised it wasn't! Hopefully someone in the know will let us all know in the comments soon!
Thank you for explaining this!! Great detail video!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks! You're very welcome.
@@TransportVlog really really enjoy your great video. Thanks for sharing your great video and thanks for just putting your energy into the video.
Ahhh Paul, Bankstown station had a lift prior to 2015. It was a Hydraulic one which was installed in the very early 2000’s and the upgrade made it slightly bigger and changed the tick barrier layout which only to the left hand side or platform 1 side originally
Hi Alex, thanks for pointing this out. Good to hear that Bankstown Station had lift access for much longer than I thought!
Fantastic work, Paul! Thank you and please keep it up
Thanks! - Will do
Great video Paul, I like to see a video at end December to see what they have done in past 12 month from last video did to day
Hi Nick, yes absolutely! I may even do more updates before then, in the same way as I've been doing for Sydenham, Marrickville & Chatswood Dive sites, Central etc.
@ 24:00. 'Heritage Interpretation'. Is that 21st century touchy feely words that officialdom now use for demolishing and sticking up some photos that will be forgotten about and graffitied? The amusing thing is that a good architect could have blended the parcels officein with the new metro entrance.
Replacing a secure parcels office with a secure bike lockup on the same site with the same building would seem a no brainer.
The current NSW Government is more about jobs for the boys than hiring competent professionals. I used to work for them, and saw managers hire their mates and drive out experienced specialists. I suspect it's why transport integrations and transfers have become such a shitshow, along with procurement of trains that don't fit NSW tunnels, trams that need to be put out of service for 18 months, and the only new regional trains I've seen in the whole world that don't have seatside power points.
@@francesconicoletti2547 bingo. Even a waiting room or a new retail outlet at the entrance.
Hi Mik, the Mariyung trains were never designed to fit the existing tunnels on the Blue Mountain lines without modifications to the tunnels. The alternative would have been shorter or thinner trains, so it made sense to widen the tunnels. That was always the plan. I agree that the cracks in the CAF Urbos 3 trams is not good, but the same problems happened in Wolverhampton in the UK, so it's not just an issue here. The new Mariyung trains will have charging points and I'm sure the replacements for the regional trains will have charging points as well.
Hi @AndyRob, yes that's about right, although I might see if I can get parts of this video included too! Hopefully it won't get graffitied. That would be sad. The location is the main issue, so unless people went through it, or the plaza was realigned (which would lengthen pedestrian journey times), it's going to be a tricky one. As with anything like this, it's a case of weighing up the benefits, and even this can be subjective sometimes. I'm not aware of any other heritage buildings going as a result of Sydney Metro, which is pleasing (well to me anyway).
Thanks Paul good video and good information looking forward to next video. Thanks.
Thanks Jason, glad you enjoyed it.
The upgrade was to enable buses to go from one side of the station without the need to have customers get out on one side of the station (which was the Bankstown Square side), the buses either start there also or go all the way around the long way to start on the other side which was rare but did happen. Transit First (which is now Transdev) wanted the bus interchange to be on the otherwise so their buses didn’t have to go the long way around to get to the other side to start a different route and vice versa
Hi Alex, thanks for this info on the buses routing too.
Hi Paul, thanks for sharing this excellent video. I haven't been to Bankstown since the mid 1970's. Hence, a lot has more likely changed since then. Incidentally, when I first visited Bankstown as a child, they used to run a network of red double deck buses. I wasn't aware that Bankstown was to be the Metro terminus. From memory, if we stayed in the train from Marrickville to Bankstown, it was possible to continue on the inner west line and back into the city. Of course, this won't be possible with the Metro. BTW, how do you keep your camera so steady when walking? You do a great job with all your videos. Anyway, take care and all the very best. Robert.
You're very welcome Robert. Yes that's quite possible. They probably went to Lidcombe and then continued back to the CBD. Now they continue to either Liverpool (via Sefton) or Lidcombe. Of course that will all change in 2024! I usually walk fairly slowly and try to tread lightly! Sometimes, I use a mini handheld stick with my iPhone attached to it! Glad you're enjoying my videos!
@@TransportVlog Thanks for the advice regarding walking with the camera. You videos are really good. I think my problem is not helped by me having a bit of a limp, along with using an inexpensive pocket video camera. I gather the current trains don't go to Lidcombe via Bankstown anymore. This was the standard service when I was there back in the 1970's and we had to change trains at Lidcombe to go to Liverpool or Penrith from what I remember. Back in those days there was no East Hills access to Liverpool as it is today.
Many of the previous comments speculate how Sydney Trains will operate to Bankstown from Liverpool and Lidcombe. I reckon we could see the Central - Parramatta “stoppers” rerouted into Bankstown (Mon-Fri), and the stoppers from the City that terminate at Homebush on weekends, extended to Bankstown. I doubt a Lidcombe-Bankstown shuttle would happen, although possible. Then City-Liverpool via Regents Park becomes the norm, with Regents Park becoming the interchange?
That comment should start some robust comments 😂😂
And no cover from the elements between Metro and Train stations - that’s just madness.
Another thought provoking video Paul - always of interest 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Hi Andrew, the City to Liverpool via Regents Park is very likely! I do like the idea of the Parramatta stoppers being rerouted to Bankstown. That would make more sense that a Lidcombe to Bankstown shuttle, which I believe in the current option. There will be canopies over the first 3 cars of the metro train, within the station entrances (perhaps not the plaza though) and then from the new Sydney Trains entrance to the existing heritage building awnings. It's pretty common for platforms on train stations and even metro stations to have canopies on parts of the platform only. Rouse Hill and Kellyville are good examples. Glad you enjoyed this video!
What I find appalling is the current plans for Bankstown give no realistic options for the Governemnt to provide the well publicised announcement that the Metro will in time be extended to Liverpool. With the current redesign at Bankstown station how on earth can it be extended to Liverpool now unless they demolish the Metro platforms at bankstown in the future to dive the metro platforms underground. What a waste of money that would be to have to redesign Bankstown station yet again in 5-10 years time to get it extended further westward. Zero forward planning here in my opinion.
Hi Stephen, yes the current redesign does seem to conflict with the longer term plan to extend to Liverpool. I guess it was hard to justify the additional cost and disruption involved with building underground platforms for an extension that will happen sometime in the future.
@@TransportVlog ... Quite simply, they should have from the outset put Bankstown metro platforms underground and tunnel maybe a few hundred meters west to allow them to restart tunnelling in the future onwards to Liverpool. Again, politicians have no forward thinking.
@@stephenblomfield6 I think cost is a factor too! - It would be difficult to justify a dive site and new underground platforms for something that might happen in the future. Like anything in life, it comes down to money!
17:25 I like the metro Bankstown Station
Thanks for the update Paul. I must’ve not realised they were going to cut off the first 2 cars of the platform as I only saw the stopping position will be revised to extend another 5-8 metres (i thought the first two cars of space was for a buffer stop).
I do believe that it would be difficult to relocate the parcel office as after the plaza is built, there’s not going to be much space left.
This finishes off the southwest metro 2021-2022 series, hopefully you can do another series when it gets closer to the closure/opening of metro.
I’m looking forward to your new videos, any word on the continuation of the end of the line, transport access program and the sydney metro bella vista-epping and sydney metro epping-chatswood series?
You're very welcome. The original plan didn't involve changing the existing Bankstown platforms. There was a modification to include the public plaza and the new entrances which has resulted in this change. The precise measurements are 55 metres removed at the east end, and 70 metres added at the western end. Yes the parcels office is unfortunately now in the wrong place at the wrong time! I will be doing a brief update on Punchbowl to Marrickville quite soon, as a few significant changes happened during the last 2 week shutdown. Yes the end of the line, and the front of train videos of the existing metro line will happen fairly soon. Sydney Metro West is also likely to feature quite prominently as well. Basically, I've been playing catch-up since the lockdown, hence so many "update" videos.
@@TransportVlog
I'm completely invested into this metro project. Holds a lot of firsts for Sydney and Australia, gets it's praises and critics. Not much that I see a problem for most of the Southwest Metro, but Bankstown is one. Liverpool via Regents Park should be a must do after the station but Yagoona and Birrong are the ones left alone.
I believe the government has the plans to futureproof the station for a direct Liverpool extension but at the moment with a plaza in the middle, it would ruin the chances unless the metro had a dive site. My only thought was that with a Liverpool extension, the metro would have to serve Yagoona and Birrong to at least save them from being the ones finished because of the metro.
My solution be to have an extra metro line to Parramatta that terminates at Bankstown and the current SW line extend to Liverpool. Bankstown-Parramatta would probably be ground level, goes through Yagoona, Birrong, goes under freight/liverpool/lidcombe junction, resufarces or stays under to Regents Park for interchange, then straight to Lidcombe (best suited underground), then Olympic Park and runs along side Metro West to finish at Parramatta.
Bankstown to Liverpool would run underground, dive site should be right around the bridge under Stacey Street and then have an underground station at Bankstown, route from Bankstown to Liverpool can be whatever, but it might be likely that from Liverpool it would be extended to take over the Leppington line and then connect with Metro WSA.
This way a Metro circle around Sydney could still be possible, and then another Metro line connecting somewhere like Kogarah or Hurstville, then goes to the Airport partially parallel to the T4 but more towards the coast, then to Maroubra, Kingsford, Bondi (near the beach), then possibly connect to Bondi Junction.
PS. West part of my suggestion runs similar to many other comments have suggested.
@@givendiau Yes I like the idea of a future metro serving Yagoona and Birrong and your other suggestions make a lot of sense! I Of all the proposed lines on the current Sydney Metro map, I feel that the La Perouse / Kogarah line is probably the one that would happen next, but I may be wrong!
This seems to be a lot of work just to replace a perfectly fine Sydney trains connection. I had thought the metro lines were to run parallel to the existing line, but they're replacing the whole line?
How would an extension to Liverpool work? Will there be a dive site so metro trains can get into the underground section? If so, why bother splitting one station into two instead is just building it like Epping?
Yes that's right, the metro trains will replace the existing Sydney Trains service between Sydenham and Bankstown. I reckon that when the Liverpool extension is approved (and this could be many years away), they will build underground platforms similar to Epping with a dive site on the approach to Bankstown Station. The new Bankstown metro terminus is a pretty low cost option in comparison to building underground, which is probably why they went for this option for now.
Just found your videos! Love them and the updates, you remind me of Geoff Marshall and not just the accent haha.
Glad you found me! The inspiration for doing this came from Geoff Marshall! I hope that one day he comes to visit Australia, and I can take him to Wondabyne, to do a least used station!
Paul Very comprehensive look at Bankstown. Definitely won’t be an extension to Sydney metro here then. Makes sense to open it up for pedestrians.
Hi Alex, Thanks! - This video ended up being quite a lot longer than expected! An extension to Liverpool is still part of the longer term plan. However, I reckon to do that, they would need to built a new underground metro station at Bankstown with a dive site somewhere between Punchbowl and Bankstown.
Hi Paul, I was wondering if you could tell me what's happening with Yagoona and Birong stations after the Metro is built. Thanks again.
Those two stations will be served by a shuttle service from Bankstown to Lidcombe. I'm hoping it will be every 15 minutes. including at weekends.
The reason why Old Town Plaza is set to be demolished is this. It used to be a two storey building with various businesses occupying it. A few years ago, an arsonist burnt it down. It is suspected that the arsonist may have had an issue with a lawyer who had an office there.
Thanks for that Rick! That would explain the lack of information about this! On my last visit (about 1 month ago), it was looking better than it had for a while, so I think some repairs might have started.
Fascinating video. I'm quite surprised by some of the changes. I thought they would make some accommodations for a future Hurstville/Kogarah -Bankstown - Parramatta Metro line, but it seems like that would have to be a new underground line through this area.
It seems that the Bankstown station is a very tricky station to convert.
Glad you enjoyed it! I'm not aware of any plans for a metro line linking Hurstville/Kogarah -Bankstown - Parramatta. There any possible plans for a line from the CBD that would run via the Airport and then terminate at Kogarah, with another branch going to La Perouse.
@@TransportVlog I have occasionally visited Bankstown station and I often wondered what the upgrade would look like. I’m surprised the vast majority of the existing station would be retained with a new section to be built east of the existing station. So there’s no plans at this stage to extend Sydney metro from Bankstown to Liverpool no and unlikely to be built for many years?
@@williamwalker8106 There is a longer term proposal to extend the metro to Liverpool, but via a new and more direct route than the current rail line. I reckon this is 20 or more years away. At that time, they would probably built underground platforms at Bankstown station, similar to Epping. So at the moment, the existing station won't change much, except for it becoming a terminus station with the platform extending more to the west.
So people will have to tap off, walk across the plaza and tap back on to transfer in either direction between Sydney Trains and Metro?
Hi Athol, yes that's right, although if you travel in the front coach, I reckon you could do this interchange in 2 or 3 minutes. The perfect solution would have been a cross platform interchange (like at Chatswood), but I guess that would have been too expensive and possibly too disruptive during the construction phase.
Hey Paul, great video, love the content, I was looking at some Sydney metro videos and they might extend the Bankstown line to Liverpool, would you reckon that this idea would happen because this plaza blocks the railway between the Sydney Trains and Sydney Metro, also I love watching these really informative videos :D
Hi Celeb, Glad you're enjoying my videos. I reckon that for the Liverpool extension (which could be 20 or more years away) , they will build a new underground station underneath the existing Bankstown station (similar to Epping). The lines would then go underground somewhere after Punchbowl and perhaps reappear above ground on the western outskirts of Bankstown, or stay underground all the way to Liverpool.
A shame to be losing the heritage-listed former Parcels Office building. I find the building to be quite novel in the era of so much architectural blandness. Surely it is of sufficient architectural merit to, at the very least, deserve relocation of the entire structure? Would it not make sense to incorporate the old, relocated structure into the new Sydney Metro station? The new Metro services building does bear some semblance to the soon to be forever "archived" parcels office building. Regardless, the answer to both of my questions appears to be "Obviously not". A great pity. I am glad, however, to see the north and south sides of Bankstown being linked and opened up. Another great video Paul, as always.
Yes it will be a shame to see it go. Relocation was certainly considered. You can read more about it in this document - www.sydneymetro.info/sites/default/files/2021-12/Bankstown_Station_Design_and_Precinct_Plan.pdf - page 49 talks about the parcel office. The services buildings for each station are being built from scratch, so I guess these buildings have specific requirements that can't be met by reusing existing buildings. Yes it will be good to see the north and south sides of Bankstown station being opened up. Glad you enjoyed this video.
Given that there are provisions for future metro extension to liverpool, i wonder if they will have to demolish the future public plaza and sydney trains station to make way for the metro extension
Hi Alvin, I reckon that for the Liverpool extension (which could be 20 or more years away) , they will build a new underground station underneath the existing Bankstown station (similar to Epping). The lines would then go underground somewhere after Punchbowl and perhaps reappear above ground on the western outskirts of Bankstown, or stay underground all the way to Liverpool. I hope I'll still be alive to see what happens!
Thanks for the video, why would there need to be 2 platforms if its a terminator, strange to have to tap out then back in to change trains, likely there isn’t much through traffic.
Hi Bevan, glad you enjoyed it. With a train every 4 minutes at peak times, I'm sure the second platform will be used. Yes through passengers will need to tap off and back on again. This is because passengers can start and end their journeys at both the Sydney Metro station entrance and the new additional Sydney Trains entrance. However, as you say, it's only really passengers heading for Birrong or Yagoona that would do this, so it won't be that many.
One thing I'm unsure about in the design is the layout of the metro station in relation to the future plans of Sydney Metro.
NSW Government have shown in their plans that there is a future ambition to extend the City & Southwest to Liverpool via the Bankstown Aerodrome and Chipping Norton. However, with the way the station is planned to be laid out, I'm struggling to see how the line can be extended to Liverpool in the future, should there be a desire to do it. It feels like this design was taken without the consideration of future ambitions, and that a major rebuild of the station would be needed if such an extension were to be built.
Hi Francis, great question! If the line was extended to Liverpool, they would probably create a dive site just after Punchbowl Station that would lead to platforms under Bankstown Station, and then the line would continue underground through Bankstown and then perhaps a mix of underground and above ground sections to Liverpool. The dive site and underground platforms could have been built now, but it would have been hugely expensive and disruptive, which was the reason for going with the above ground terminating platforms. Hope this answers your question.
Thanks for this informative and very clear video! Kinda forgot what would happen to the Bankstown station and thought it would be a sub-grade station due to the extension to Liverpool!
With this Terminus being at-grade, would that mean there would be no extension to Liverpool in the future?
Glad you enjoyed it. If they extend to Liverpool in the future, they will build a tunnel portal west of Punchbowl and this will lead to a new underground station in Bankstown. I reckon the line would then continue underground for a while, but hopefully not all the way to Liverpool!
@@TransportVlog Hmmm, I see what you mean! That would honestly make the routing and services quite interesting!
Would certainly like to see some SkyRail options to Liverpool and wonder if it may be connected to the Aerotropolis, tho that seems like a far distant future plan atm :P
Curious if there will be another update early in 2024? (unsure what's the status of the line, has the line closure been delayed?)
Nice video mate
Thanks Faris
11:59
Apologies about the ensuring rant but why exactly does the building need to go only to be replaced with a "heritage interpretation" (aka developer's wet dream with a stupid art piece in the centre of a new development)? Thats like bulldizing the building and building it in the exact position with no difference. Good video, nice having these updates regardibg infastructure
Hi Clam, Glad you liked this video update. Basically the heritage parcels office is blocking the proposed plaza. The heritage interpretation is likely to be a series of information panels that will be around the edge of the plaza, so it won't be a physical building. Hope this makes sense.
given the station access for the metro is at ground level, how are they going to extend the line further west to Liverpool without disrupting the public plaza.
Great question! - I reckon if and when this happens (and it would be 20 years or more away), they will build a dive site after Punchbowl station that will lead to underground platforms at Bankstown Station (similar to Epping). The line would probably the continue underground until outside of the Bankstown city area, and then be a mix of over and underground to Liverpool. The Liverpool extension would be a completely different (and more direct) route to the current T3 line. Hope this answers your question.
@@TransportVlog Would have thought building an underground platform now would make more sense than wasting money on building on existing platform given an extension to Liverpool is well publicized. Tallawong station has a future pass through to marsden park.
@@curiosity341 I reckon the cost of the current terminus at Bankstown is probably around 10% of the cost of an underground terminus, so it's a huge saving and is also much quicker to build. Tallawong being a new station (and above ground) was easier to build with the future in mind. I agree that it's not a perfect solution, but I think it will work pretty well until the line is extended.
Thanks for another great video Paul how many platforms would there be on the Bankstown station where would the platforms all be located and would you be able to use your Opal card on the new Metro line
Hi Stavros, Glad you enjoyed this video. There will be 2 new platforms for the metro and Opal cards can be used on the new Metro Line. Refer to 17:30 in this video for the location of the new platforms.
Why aren't they building the metro through to Liverpool instead of having a Sydney trains stub end up at Bankstown?
The longer term plan is to continue to Liverpool. I guess other priorities such as Sydney Metro West have prevented it from happening now.
Hey Paul, nothing to do with Bankstown but there seems to be 10 car markers at Sydenham station so I was having a thought that maybe there might be more intercity services stopping at Sydenham when the metro line opens, either that or they are just there for the once a day service that stops there?
Hi Flynn, I hadn't noticed the 10 car markers at Sydenham Station! I think there is a good chance that intercity services will stop at Sydenham once the metro opens. I'll take a closer look next time I'm at Sydenham station. Thanks for pointing this out.
Who are the 132-145 old Plaza Building and where are all the shops?
HI Nico, It's either being demolished or renovated. I couldn't find any information about it, and it was still there when I visited last month.
I grew up in Revesby during the 1960s and 1970s. I would travel by bus to the Bankstown area to do some shopping for my mother. There was no public plaza back then. The roads were open. Those were good old days when I used the old Red Rattlers to go to the city for work. There were no Asians in that area nor any shops to cater for them.
I don't live In Sydney metro area anymore since 2001. I moved up here to a nice spot in the Gold Coast area of Queensland. I never used the trains up here because buses and trams provide excellent services.
Thanks for sharing your memories of Bankstown! I hope to get up to the Gold Coast one day to cover your tram service and the train that doesn't quite make it Gold Coast proper!
Some other stations of the same design as the heritage Bankstown station have a coloured glass with the station name in it, it might have had a light behind it. I don’t know if Bankstown has one or probably vandalized decades ago. Other examples that I can think of is Condoblin and Morree.
Thanks Daryl, I'll keep a look out for this.
Very sad that the old Parcels office will be demolished, I can't se why it has to be and can't just be part of the park where it is. Sure there will be a "heritage interpritation" but it's just not the same.
The plaza itself looks boring, generic and uninspired. Words cannot explain how much I hate the Sydney Metro Bankstown Line.
Yes it is sad. Let's see how it will look when it's all done.
Former heritage parcel office will be demolished, Right , Paul?
Yes that's right Nico. It was still there a few weeks ago, so I'm not sure when demolition is planned.
How are they going to get to Bankstown or the city? Is it going to be station link again? Can you tell me is it gonna be station link again or not?
I don't know the answer to that as yet. I'm sure they'll be many different bus services running during the final closure and I reckon most will run to Sydenham to connect with Metro and Train services there. However, buses could also run to stations on the T2 and T8. I'm sure they'll be a comprehensive service, similar to the one for the Epping to Chatswood closure.
Anyone have any idea why Birrong & Yagoona didn’t end up on the metro ? As it is going to be built now it seems those two stations and Bankstown are going to be on a tiny spur of T3. That doesn’t seem to auger well for their viability. I’m not imagining there will be much interchange between the metro & T3.
Hi Francesco, No I don't know why Birrong & Yagoona didn't end up on the metro. If the proposed Bankstown to Lidcombe shuttle can run every 15 minutes, then this will certainly help maintain patronage at these 2 stations. I'll do a separate video on this, once I know more about the likely service pattern and frequency.
Great video by the way. Not sure shouldn't have just demolished the original weatherboard building given its more dominated by the add on's and virtually hidden. Not sure it's really been 'saved' it's been chopped up that much.
Thanks Andy! Yes possibly, although the views of it from the end of the platform are quite good.
Yagoona and Birrong will be the stations missing out, served by shuttle Bankstown to Lidcombe service. Liverpool via Regents Park and Liverpool via Granville will become what it used to be in the 80s
The '80s? As recently as 2013, actually. I suspect a lot of people will be missing direct access to the Bankstown line, even after the clumsy, newly required change at Lidcombe is finally eliminated. I was furious, when my partner lived at Sefton, and I had to change trains twice to get to her from Lewisham, when it was previously a straight shot. Now when I'm at Marrickville, and getting to Sefton is going to require a walk in the rain at Bankstown, and possibly a second change, instead of a straight shot.
@Woodland26, Yes Yagoona and Birrong will miss out, unless services from both Liverpool and Lidcombe terminate at Bankstown (which is one of the options being considered). The preferred option is for Liverpool Trains to run via Sefton, Regents Park, Lidcombe and then on to the city, so not via Granville. The best option (in my view) would be a 15 minute service between Liverpool and Sefton with alternate trains going via Lidcombe to the City and the others continuing to Bankstown. The existing Lidcombe to Bankstown service would then continue with a 30 minute frequency. This is definitely the subject of another video!
Hi @Mik, Sefton to Lewisham may be direct again in the future (if the train stops at Lewisham). See my comment above. I reckon you'll be able to avoid getting wet at Bankstown if you travel in the front 3 cars, as this should all be covered with canopies and the heritage platform awnings, but yes you will have to change trains unfortunately.
@@TransportVlog I look forward to that video! And whenever I look at the rail map, I wonder if it would make sense to have done the metro conversion all the way to Olympic Park, via Lidcombe. If the metro is supposed to have shorter dwell times and headway than heavy rail, it would've been fantastic for major events at the Olympic Park, and connected the two metro lines. And once again, it would've eliminated the new mode change at Bankstown. It would've necessitated a new tunnel at Lidcombe, but Sydney has been building tunnels pretty much constantly since the '80s, so I don't see that as a big cost, especially compared to the benefit. I wonder if it was actually considered properly.
Another fantastic video with so much research done and info provided!
Quick question, so Bankstown will still service Sydney Trains for Yagoona and Birrong stations rather then becoming a full Sydney Metro station?
It will have both, keep the original plus new metro platform in the other end.
Thanks Julian, thanks for your feedback and glad you enjoyed this video. Yes that's right, Bankstown will still be the Sydney Trains station for services to Lidcombe via Yagoona, Birrong, Regents Park and Berala. Some Liverpool services could also terminate at Bankstown, but that is still to be decided. Most Liverpool services are likely to run via Sefton, Regents Park and Lidcombe and then on to the City, so bypassing Bankstown. The future services west of Bankstown is worthy of its own video! - so I'll add this to my list.
I'll most likely never like the Southwest Sydney Metro as so much heritage listed items will be completely changed or lost in the process. Not to mention about services being privatised.
The heritage platforms buildings are staying at all stations from Marrickville to Bankstown. I believe the former Parcels Office is the only heritage building that is going.
good video mate
Thanks Joseph 👍
How will the metro be extended beyond Bankstown towards Liverpool as was proposed if the platforms are a ground level?
I think a better idea would of been to raise thr line eliminating the low bridge underneath & building new platforms above the existing platforms with stairs & lifts to interchange between the two systems. This would then allow for future extensions of thr metro towards Liverpool & The Nancy Bird Walton Airport.
Hi Ray, if and when this happens (and it could be 10 or 20 years in the future), I reckon they will built a Dive Site just after Punchbowl station to allow the lines to serve underground platforms at Bankstown (similar to Epping). The line may well stay underground for some or all of the route to Liverpool. However, your suggestion of building new platforms above the existing ones could work well too. I guess it depends on whether the line beyond Bankstown would be below or above ground.
The parcels office building should be repurposed and relocated to the proposal location of the services building!! What a damn shame that it’s going to be demolished!! I don’t get it?!
Hi Kris, I don't know what it is about Services Buildings, but they have all been built from scratch so far. Not sure if you've watched my videos on the changes to other stations on the Bankstown Line. Each station will have its own purpose built Services Building and they all follow a similar design. I agree, it will be a shame to see the former parcels office go.
There looks to be zero consideration for how the 40s weatherboard booking office was incorporated into the concourse. There is a severe clash of styles and architecture, like the heritage of the building was a non-thought.
That's how most heritage renovations are done these days. Protect and restore the old, and make the new out of contrasting materials.
Hi Nick, I guess some compromises had to be made when incorporating a modern concourse into the booking office building that was probably designed for fewer passenger than we have today.
Is it just me or did a lot of that video footage appear a bit odd.
I'm not sure if there was something funny about the colours or textures in the video, but it looked like it was all CGI rather than actual footage.
It's actual footage, taken on my iPhone 11, except for the maps and artist impression images.
I live not far from Bankstown station, never occured to me to go and have a look 😃
Yes, definitely worth taking a look for yourself!
Willl the Bankstown metro station be a single level station, not a multi level station hence there will be no lifts? And will it be built east of the existing Bankstown station, closer to the Bankstown central shopping centre?
Did you watch the video?
@@mark123655 yeah I saw it I was just checking
Yes that's right! Lifts are normally required to get over (or under) the tracks, but in this case, there are no tracks, so no lifts required. And yes, it will be closer to the Bankstown Shopping centre. I reckon about 5 minutes closer on foot.
@@TransportVlog so I understand that a section of track will be cut, and split, with one side for Sydney trains and the other side of track for Sydney metro with a walk way in between. So there would be 2 one level buildings, one for Sydney trains and one for Sydney metro, am I correct?
@@williamwalker8106 Yes that's correct William
booo should finish at LIverpool!
Hi Pepe, hopefully it will in the future :-)
Poor bastards who travel between Yagoona (and beyond) to-and-from the Sydenahm direction every day. It'll be pleasant to have to break the trip twice a day in, say, the pouring rain.
The most natural thing in the world will be to extend the Metro to Lidcombe, so it's very surprising that they didn't leave the connection in place at Bankstown. Still, what's another $X million to reconnect when the time comes?
Hi Andrew, yes it will be an inconvenience. The longer term plan is for the line to continue to Liverpool via a more direct (and new) alignment.
17:00 Interesting, isn't it, that none of these artists impressions feature people in traditional Muslim dress, even though it's BANKSTOWN! These planners are that out of touch with the community they're supposed to be serving. The plaza looks nice, but the transport integration is a hack job that will severely inconvenience commuters further down the line.
Hi Mik, Yes good point about the artist impression images! It's not a perfect solution and finishing the Metro at Bankstown is going to affect people further down the line, but it will benefit many more people overall.
Hope Cabramatta gets something like this.......... like never
Perhaps one day! - You never know!
@@TransportVlog yes, never say never.
That just seems like poor urban design, like a after thought. Ending at bankstown seem arbitrary.
Why no cross platform interchange between metro and train? Yet another example of mismanagenent and wasted opportunity.
Hi Jack, yes it would have been good to have a cross platform interchange, and it does look like there is space on either side of the station to make that happen.
Thanks Paul for this informative update. Unfortunately it makes me even more upset with the destruction of the Bankstown Train line. Removal of over 10,000 seats during peak hour. Longer travel times from Bankstown to Central and a number of stations on the Bankstown line when you look at fast trains we have now will be all stations under the metro.
Commuters past Bankstown on the express services missing out on a fast trip to the city that they have now.
A very bad connection from trains past Bankstown onto Metro trains.
Total cutting of the train line with a plaza so that it can never be changed without major expense.
Like the metro tunnels on its whole route being 45 cm too short to ever convert to double deck operation.
Metro no integration to existing city rail services - no link at the end of North West Metro to Schofield when you look at Google earth only 1 km to connect an amazing opportunity missed.
New airport metro line not connected to end of Edmonston Park rail line not 4 kms.
Hi Wayne, Glad you enjoyed this update. Less there will definitely be less seats, but that will be partly offset by a higher frequency (every 4 minutes at peak times). The combination of faster acceleration and shorter dwell times at stations should shave at least 2 minutes off the current journey time from Bankstown to Sydenham, so thats 24 mins to 22 mins. I reckon Sydenham to Central via Waterloo will take 6 minutes, as opposed to around 11 minutes via St Peters & Redfern. So that's a total journey time of 28 minutes from Bankstown to Central by Sydney Metro. This compares favourably with the all stations service (currently 35 mins) and the limited stop service (currently 30 mins). Feel free to check my maths, but I think I've got it right! Passengers between Liverpool and Sefton will have a direct service to the City via Regents Park and Lidcombe. I don't know the proposed journey time, but I reckon it will be similar to the current limited stops service via Bankstown. Some of the integrations you mention are planned for the future and Sydney Metro will integrate with the T4 at Martin Place and the Pitt Street stop is very close to Town Hall (for people that want to access this area). Whilst I love double decker trains, they do have some disadvantages in terms of acceleration and station dwell times. Whilst Sydney Metro is not perfect, it is good to see 3 metro lines being built over the next few years and hopefully more will follow (along with other traditional rail schemes) to fill the gaps you mentioned. I believe extending the rail line from Leppington to the Western Sydney Airport is already being considered.
Hi Paul
I discovered last night that the new Metro platforms at Bankstown station will only cater for 6 car metro trains and as you have stated on another video about the stabling yard being Built at Sydenham that it will handle 6 car metro trains. So we will have 15 metro trains per hour in peak hour or 90 cars. Currently we have 8 trains double deck with 8 carriages. This is equivalent to 128 single deck cars. Eg assuming for a double deck car equaling 2 single deck cars. So even though we are hang nearly double the number of trains we will be having 38 less cars leading to mass overcrowding on the Bankstown line with the majority of people standing.
Woah, all I could see was Chinese all over the place, is this Australia?
Yes it is. The English have their enclave, so do they.
Is the upgrade haram or ha lal?
He He! Whatever it is, its defintely Kosher!
Hi. Could you please use month rather than season (eg summer 2022) in the video title? Because the South Hemisphere season can cause north hemisphere fans confused. Thanks🙂
Good point!, and lovely to hear that you're watching this from the northern hemisphere. I often use seasons if I've filmed over several different months, for example October to January in this case, so I'll have to think about how this might work going forward.
Shocking disregard for heritage buildings typical of the LNP. A huge waste of money.
Why does the Railways always build such clumsy, ugly and incompetent infrastructure that makes using the trains harder?
The metro is garbage and has placed a wedge in the Sydney train network.