Go west - it will take you only 27 minutes to the city

THE revolutionary $8.1 billion West Metro will transport up to 30,000 people an hour from Parramatta to the CBD in less than 27 minutes, stopping at nine underground stations, according to secret feasibility work being undertaken by the state and federal governments.

Thirty single-deck trains each hour would run through twin tubes underneath Parramatta Road if sufficient state, federal and private sector funds emerged in coming months to pay for the project.

The metro would link with the Rees Government's promised CBD Metro, costed at $4.8 billion, to create the first of what the state's top transport planners hope will be a city-wide network of modern, driverless subways.

The two final routes being considered for the project, obtained by the Herald, include metro stations at Granville or Rosehill, Auburn or West Homebush Bay, Burwood, Five Dock, Leichhardt, Camperdown and Sydney University.

There will also be multi-million-dollar transport interchanges constructed around metro stops built at Parramatta, Olympic Park, Camellia, Strathfield and Central Station, where passengers can switch between CityRail, metro and bus services.

A separate transport bureaucracy, the Sydney Metro Authority, has been given unprecedented powers to redevelop land around stations, raising high-rise apartments along Parramatta Road to help boost the project's viability.

Senior government officials have confirmed the target travel time from Parramatta to Central is 24 to 27 minutes. CityRail services now take between 26 and 32 minutes, but the metro would operate via all stops at such a high frequency that commuters would not require a timetable. It would also capture big inner-west catchments in areas such as Five Dock, Leichhardt and Camperdown, which are not directly serviced by the existing rail network.

The Transport Minister, David Campbell, said station locations had not been finalised.

"There is no final determination on alignment or stations for the project and this will only be determined after more detailed planning, should the Federal Government fund the project through Infrastructure Australia," he said.

Parramatta Road is one of the country's most congested arteries, with average vehicle speeds during the morning peak just 28 kmh, down from 33 kmh in 2004. A draft of the joint NSW and Commonwealth feasibility study claims the new line could dramatically ease this gridlock.

"It has the potential to significantly reduce travel times between western Sydney and the Sydney CBD, and to relieve congestion in the western corridor and the broader rail network," the study said.

There are 1300 trips operated by Sydney Buses along Parramatta Road each weekday, carrying more than 50,000 commuters. The CityRail Western line carried 35 million passengers in the 12 months to December 2007, with more than 32,000 people on 24 trains during the 70-minute height of the morning peak.

"A significant number of [these] services exceed 'crush capacity' of 135 per cent, with loads often up to 180 per cent," the feasibility study said.

The now-shelved North-West Metro was to have carried 50 million passengers per year under Victoria Road. Senior transport planners hope the Parramatta Road project might garner similar figures.

The study said the metro was the Government's central tool to combat the strangulation of the existing rail network.

"The recent strong growth rates in peak period rail patronage, combined with future growth, will see capacity exceeded on several parts of the CityRail network," it said.

The West Metro is a key contender among the 94 projects being considered by the Rudd Government's Infrastructure Australia, which will award about $8 billion to transport, water and energy projects around the country from the Building Australia fund.

The Herald has been told, however, that Infrastructure Australia has been sorely disappointed with the lack of detailed analysis undertaken in NSW for both the West Metro and the CBD Metro.

If the metro fails to meet the mark, the Prime Minister would be forced to announce another road, a duplication of the clogged M5 East, as the Commonwealth's project in Sydney - a tunnel that would do nothing for urban congestion.