City of Ryde CEO Wayne Rylands has told a Property Council of Australia briefing on the impacts of the Sydney Metro rail network that the ‘missing link’ between St Marys and Tallawong will be vital for Sydney’s future.
“It’s the game changer for Sydney,” said Mr Rylands at the 2 November 2023 briefing, which focussed on Metro’s effects on current and future station precincts. “It will give us the 24-7 global city we all want.”
City of Ryde – which already has three Metro stations in its thriving Macquarie Park Innovation District – is among a number of Sydney councils lobbying the NSW State Government to commit to building the St Marys-Tallawong link.
The proposed 20km of tracks, which will include up to seven potential stations, will link the Ryde local government area and other important strategic urban centres with greater western Sydney, including the new aerotropolis.
“More than 35 per cent of the people who work in Macquarie Park come from the Blacktown and Penrith areas,” Mr Rylands said.
“For most of those people, getting to work means an hour and a half trip on three different types of transport, or travelling by car on tollways.
“What we’ve got to do is make sure the continuation of the Metro gets us all the way to the western Sydney airport and that commute will then be reduced to 45 minutes.”
Mr Rylands said the completed Metro’s impact on the Macquarie Park Innovation District will be significant, with the potential to make it Sydney’s premier work, live, play destination.
The area already houses the Australian headquarters of ten of the world’s top 100 companies, with a heavy emphasis on technology, biotech, and innovative start-ups.
“We’ll only be 18 minutes from Barangaroo in a location surrounded by national parks, with great amenities and the ability to not only access jobs in the CBD but also in the Macquarie Park Innovation District,” Mr Rylands said.
“We have 23 state-significant sites there in State Government planning that will supply 20,000 apartments – we’re talking 50,000 people. The current population in and around the Macquarie Park Innovation District is 30,000 and it will be well over 100,000 by the time they’re approved.”
