Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc. has been operating since late 1974. We have made many submissions about public projects, always pressing for the interests of public transport users. We have given more than one thousand media interviews and news releases. We are not tied to any business organisation, trade union, political party or government department. However, we regularly liaise with governments, transport operators and other commuter and environmental groups, both in Australia and overseas.

The author has lived on the North Shore all his life. He has been passing through North Sydney by train several times per week since the early 1960s. More recently, he has been working in 15 Blue St above the proposed upgrade site and is familiar with conditions at North Sydney at peak and off-peak times and weekends. He is familiar with conditions on most of the CityRail network.

It is proposed by Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation (TIDC) to address capacity limitations and safety and access issues by rebuilding the existing concourse of North Sydney station, which is the fourth busiest CityRail station in peak hours. However, in the 1970s, airspace rights above the station were sold. As a result, many opportunities for amplifying capacity have been lost or made more costly.

The capacity limitations are mainly due to the limited number (currently 12) of electronic barriers and partly due to the limits of stairway capacity between the platform islands and the concourse. At present, each island has two staircases each wide enough for four people to walk abreast with some space for one to go in the opposite direction. The capacity limitations are particularly evident in the morning peak when trains arrive simultaneously on platforms 1 and 2, which is a daily occurrence, causing heavy loadings on the staircases shared by those platforms and of course the eight outgoing barriers. Observations in peak hour at St Leonards station suggest that escalators can comfortably carry about 80 people per minute. The staircases at North Sydney can be seen to carry about 100 people per minute each staircase in the peak direction without preventing a few people from moving in the opposite direction. The barriers at North Sydney can be seen to allow about 30 people per minute through each machine. The access issue is that there is no lift access to the platforms nor any escalator access. The safety issue is the limited capacity to remove people from the platforms in the event of any emergency.

While TIDC propose to increase the number of electronic barriers, the replacement of half the stairways with escalators will probably decrease capacity, a point which the REF does not address. The small amount of extra capacity provided by new lifts will make no difference to the fact of the decrease.

TIDC has issued a Review of Environmental Factors (REF) prepared by Manidis Roberts. The REF adverts several times to the existence of a budget for the work (e.g. page 59). The capital works budget is not expressly stated in the REF but is understood to be $58 million. Regrettably, this budget appears to be too small to upgrade North Sydney station suitably. However, page 56 implies that the project's aims include ensuring that no capacity upgrade is needed for 40 years. It is unrealistic to attempt this on an inadequate budget.

If the proposed work proceeds, users of the station will inevitably be badly inconvenienced in peak periods during construction, which is likely to last most of two years. If an emergency were to arise during that time, the consequences of temporary capacity constraints might be serious.

The REF refers to former Premier Bob Carr's announcement in July of a new railway through the Sydney CBD crossing the harbour to a new station near Victoria Cross, about 200 metres from the existing station, opening in the year 2018. Even if the Government conscientiously adheres to Mr Carr's promise it will be ten years too late. The capacity of the present station should be given a boost now. When the Chatswood-Epping railway opens in 2008, congestion in peak hour will become intolerable even with the minor capacity increase which the REF project offers. As a separate issue, the access and safety shortcomings of the station should be addressed as soon as practicable.

Action for Public Transport would rather see:

1. a significant increase in the capital works budget
2. an immediate increase in the number of electronic barriers. This could be completed during a single weekend trackwork possession without inconveniencing anybody.
3. replacing the proposed work with a new project to provide extra access to the station by a new route. This project would be constructed without any effect on the present station building and concourse. It could incorporate easy-access features such as lifts. Obviously, it would require a budget increase. A suitable model for this is Parramatta station where a second concourse with lifts was built at the eastern end of the station adding to the capacity of the old concourse. Once the new concourse was in place it would be possible to improve the old North Sydney concourse without major disruption.

Returning to the REF, fair coverage is not given to the following disadvantages of the proposed work:

• the five businesses currently trading in North Sydney station which will be lost should not be dismissed as having no economic effect. They are the only shops open in Blue St on weekends when the Greenwood Centre across the road is locked. One is a 24-hour convenience shop. Their loss would kill Blue St on Sundays. The result would be that the rebuilt station would be the death of commercial and social Blue Street after hours, rather than the gateway to North Sydney. The weekday trade of these businesses would probably be lost to the Greenwood centre with higher rents and higher prices to match. Their loss would destroy the market they currently serve.
• page VII: the external views to the south will be blighted by the bridge which serves the loading dock of 15 Blue St

For reference, some errors have been noticed in the published REF:

• the staircases described as load-bearing are not load-bearing; the station stood for about 65 years before they were enclosed from floor to ceiling.
• directions along Blue St are reversed in the captions to figures 3 and 4 (page IV)
• platforms 1-2 and 3-4 are reversed in Figure 40 (page 59)
• the "disused tunnel" has never been used and should more accurately be described as unused.
• the Philips building is now the Fujitsu Centre