(Sydney) Airport bus and train links 'dismal'

[Rhys Xanthis]

I must admit when i went to Sydney a few years ago and took the train for the first time from the airport, i was very surprised it was part of a regular urban service route.

I would have thought sufficient demand existed to have its own line running to the airport?

[NickN]

I believe the cityrail airport link is worth the price. I have used it many times and the convenience and simplicity and direct access to the domestic departures area was great. I understand the prices might be steep for workers there who do it every day but for the traveler the convenience is good.

I'd rather CityRail get my money than Macquarie.

[Andy N]

Originally Posted by NickN

I believe the cityrail airport link is worth the price. I have used it many times and the convenience and simplicity and direct access to the domestic departures area was great. I understand the prices might be steep for workers there who do it every day but for the traveler the convenience is good.

I'd rather CityRail get my money than Macquarie.

Isn't the reason the prices are so steep because it's not run/subsidised by Cityrail or the government? I suppose you might not be paying Macquarie for it but you are still giving money to some corporation who are sucking people dry.

[Robert Zweck]

How is that the Car Park charges at Sydney are about 3 times that of Adelaide?


e.g. Off the top of my head, it's $70 for 7 days in the Adelaide Long Term park.



Do you Sydney guys feel you are being " fleeced "?

[Ash W]

Originally Posted by Rhys Xanthis

I must admit when i went to Sydney a few years ago and took the train for the first time from the airport, i was very surprised it was part of a regular urban service route.

I would have thought sufficient demand existed to have its own line running to the airport?

You will find the airport link wasn't build to specificaly serve the airport. Apparently the main reason a line was built was to overcome capacity problems on the line from Redfern to Sydneham. The line going through the airport was a bonus.

As for the operation of the line, the line is operated by City Rail. The stations (and this inlcudes Mascot and Green Square) are operated by the private company. Cityrail get's their fare, the company gets the premium they charge for using their stations. Wolli Creek is City Rail owned and operated so has no premium.

In an ideal world I reckon what they should have done is have two seperate pairs of platforms at International and Domestic. One set of platforms to serve a dedicated premium cost airport train, with provision for baggage, alla London's Heathrow Express and the normal City rail platforms for other traffic, alla London's Picadilly tube line. The only problem is though who would then want to pay the premium fare to use the express when the normal line isn't much slower and most people would then have to change to a normal line at central anyway.

[Nigel C]

Originally Posted by NickN

I'd rather CityRail get my money than Macquarie.

If the State Govt here in NSW continues down the current path of wanting to sell off public assets, then I've got no doubt the CityRail network would be in those plans somewhere.

If it was, Macquarie might just be a tender for it. Then they'd have you covered everywhere you go in the City from tollways to taxis to the airport itself.

[damien b]

Originally Posted by Ash W

You will find the airport link wasn't build to specificaly serve the airport. Apparently the main reason a line was built was to overcome capacity problems on the line from Redfern to Sydneham. The line going through the airport was a bonus.

I always believed that the Airport Link was built for the Olympics to assist with what was a poor public transport link between the city and the airport. They tied the link in with the Eastern Hills/Glenfield line to allow City Rail to run normal trains and not dedicated airport trains. It was just finished before the Olympics in 2000.

The increase in fares for the four stations are as already mentioned due to Airport Link owning the stations and not city rail. Airport Link charges you a fare to use the station, that is added onto the train ticket. They have also made it so that you can not buy a ticket to say Wolli Creek and get off at International, (which is a cheaper option) by ensuring that your ticket will not work at the gates, unless you buy a ticket to international for example.

[Ash W]

Originally Posted by damien b

I always believed that the Airport Link was built for the Olympics to assist with what was a poor public transport link between the city and the airport. They tied the link in with the Eastern Hills/Glenfield line to allow City Rail to run normal trains and not dedicated airport trains. It was just finished before the Olympics in 2000.

The increase in fares for the four stations are as already mentioned due to Airport Link owning the stations and not city rail. Airport Link charges you a fare to use the station, that is added onto the train ticket. They have also made it so that you can not buy a ticket to say Wolli Creek and get off at International, (which is a cheaper option) by ensuring that your ticket will not work at the gates, unless you buy a ticket to international for example.

The timming may have been adjusted to co-incide with the Olympics but it was not the driver. As I said it was to releive congestion from Redfern to Sydenham and had been on the drawing boards for many years, indeed one plan would have had the line using the existing goods line past the airport and the other plan was to make Sydneham to Redfern 6 tracks as had always been planned. Oddly it has been a while since I have been to Sydney but I beleive they are now building a 5th and maybe 6th track between Sydneham and Redfern as part of the clearways project.

As for poor transport, it didn't seem too bad before. Traffic was ok and there were dedicated airport buses. I think the link and the removal of the buses was a backwards step for PT to the airport, but overall has done nothing.

[Grant Smith]

Originally Posted by Nigel C

taxis to the airport itself.

Macquarie sold their share in that "Apple Taxis" company... Not making money...

[Nigel C]

Thanks for the clarification.