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Ghost trains:

The rail network that never was

BURIED under Sydney's feet lies a railway mausoleum: rough-dug tunnels, abandoned lift wells, massive concrete sidings. These are the remnants of a grand network, dreamed up a century ago but never opened. Trains may never grace these dark tubes, which go nowhere - and stand in testimony to a transport vision that has gone missing for decades.

In 1937 the Newcastle flyer to Sydney took two hours and 26 minutes - five minutes faster than today. In 1955 NSW Railways moved 280.5 million people around the network - 5 million more than last year.

The city has grown enormously since the '50s, but only two more lines have been built. More than seven major rail projects have been shelved or even stopped mid-construction.

In 70 years, only 13 kilometres of new railway has been built in western Sydney, but its population has grown fivefold. The only new tracks laid down since the 1950s are the eastern suburbs line to Bondi Junction - a tortuous political accomplishment - and the privately-funded airport line which cost taxpayers $800 million after the Airport Line Company went into receivership.

Treasury has razored links between Strathfield and Hurstville and Parramatta and the city. Fast rail services to Wollongong and Newcastle have been quietly dumped.

"They achieved a capacity of about 26 trains an hour in the old days, which is one every two minutes," says John Brew, the former chief executive of State Rail. "Now, they have it back to 12 or 13 trains an hour." There is a plan afoot to tackle Sydney's maze of suburban lines. And there are $8 billion worth of new lines planned for the north-west and south-west. But these, too, are yet to begin.

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