Residents in a region of southwest Sydney that has the worst public transport in the city say they have been virtually cut off and need urgent government investment.
Wollondilly, which has a population of about 53,000 residents and is the second-fastest growing LGA in Sydney, has the city’s lowest public transport usage at a mere 1.2 per cent of average trips. The next closest figure, in the Hawkesbury, with over double this number.
The ‘Dilly, as locals call it, is also one of Sydney’s most car-dependent areas, with 86.6 per cent of average trips in 2022-23 being completed by car.
And with its current population set to double by 2040, the numbers reveal a stark issue in Wollondilly: a lack of connectivity, especially for younger and older residents.
Local MP Judy Hannan said successive governments had pushed the urban sprawl out to Wollondilly without investing in infrastructure, and that among other things electrified rail connections to Wilton were essential. She also proposed a series of bus interchanges to improve accessibility.
“So public transport [in Wollondilly]? I say it’s just above non-existent,” she told Central News.
“My vision for the future is an interchange around the Wilton area. If we can’t do trains to start off, rapid buses coming from the Southern Highlands through to Wilton, from Wilton down the coast (to Wollongong) and from Wilton to Campbelltown.”
Wollondilly population projections, according to Planning NSW.
An impeded, infrequent and underfunded train line
Public transport in Wollondilly is reliant on the Southern Highlands Line (SHL). Services mostly run from Macarthur and Campbelltown Station, travelling through the Wollondilly townships of Menangle, Douglas Park, Picton, Tahmoor and Bargo.
A map of the Southern Highlands Line in relation to Wollondilly Shire and its five train stations. Stations highlighted in yellow are in Campbelltown Council.
There are 23 daily timetabled services on the Southern Highlands Line but as experts and commuters told Central News, the service is infrequent, underfunded and consequently underused.
One of the major reasons for these issues is the competition with freight trains.
The SHL shares its tracks with the Main South Line, a major freight route between Sydney and Melbourne, meaning it must compete with a large amount of train traffic.
However, with the leasing of this route to the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) – the government body in charge of freight – the situation has worsened. The ARTC gives priority to freight over passenger services, leaving many SHL commuters to wait for kilometre-long freight trains to pass.
Michael Clulow is a train enthusiast and regular commuter on the SHL, who uses the SHL to travel to Sydney and visit his parents in Mittagong. He says that the issue of freight trains on the SHL can cause services to be “up to an hour late” and that it is a total “turn-off” for commuters.
“There is more freight routed through the south than any other lines. So consequently, it’s not advantageous for the [ARTC] to have an all-stations [passenger] train stopping. Whether it’s one train every half hour or one every hour, it blocks up the route”.
Above: A freight train arrives at Picton Station. Freight services are a major impediment for commuters on the SHL.
However, for a variety of reasons, some commuters rely on the SHL as their only mode of travel.
Diaan Nasser, 19, is one of these commuters. She commutes to Sydney University from Thirlmere, a journey that would usually take 90 minutes by car.
“My commute is more of a journey. In total, it comes up to two and a half hours, sometimes three, depending on the day.
“If you don’t have a car, you’re not getting around and that’s a huge issue for young people because whether you are able to access a car or even get your license is something that is dependent on your parents and your economic situation.
Diaan Nasser, 19, is one of Wollondilly’s residents who is affected by a lack of public transport connectivity.
The Southern Highlands Line is also plagued by a lack of investment, particularly by poor service frequencies, outdated railcars and the condition of the route.
“The SHL has the lowest patronage [of any line in Sydney] and that is because there isn’t frequency”, said Michael Clulow. “Currently, there’s one or two [SHL] trains a day that you can catch directly from Wollondilly to Sydney Central. Otherwise, you have to change at Macarthur or Campbelltown”.
For many commuters, especially in the morning rush, this is an inconvenience they do not have time for, so they drive to one of the Campbelltown stations.
Menangle Station, above, is surrounded by an existing township and new housing developments, yet it could be mistaken as abandoned. Commuters avoid issues with the SHL by driving ten minutes to the electrified Macarthur Station.
The SHL is also the only line in Sydney to not be electrified and still runs on the 30-year-old diesel-powered Endeavour Railcar.
Clulow says that this lack of investment is disappointing.
“Just as in the past, when other lines were electrified, we’d end up with the older rolling stock (railcars). And I see that happening again”.
Judy Hannan, MP for Wollondilly adds that “the line is bumpy, it breaks down quite often and the service can be cancelled for quite a period of time”. She says she has received numerous constituent complaints about the quality of the service.
The NSW Government is in the process of upgrading the Endeavour railcar to a new ‘Regional Rail’ railcar but there is no timeline for its completion.
Inside the 30-year-old SHL Endeavour Railcar. The interior has been refurbished but the mechanics are still the same.
An ’embarrassing’ bus service.
Other than the SHL service, Wollondilly residents rely on sporadic bus services.
Picton Buslines is the main bus contractor for the region, operating 28 contracted services, 26 being school bus routes. Services are underfunded and infrequent.
We have to explain to them that the next bus isn’t coming for sometimes two, two and a half hours. It’s a joke.
The NSW Government committed to a $91 million investment into bus services in NSW last June but Andrew Ferris, Director of Picton Buslines, says that the situation is still dire for the company and Wollondilly residents.
“It’s almost embarrassing. We continue to report [complaints] to the government, but our hands are tied”.
A bus stop in Thirlmere. The stop is serviced infrequently by the 828 — the last weekday bus leaves at 7pm and on weekends, there are five services on a Saturday and zero on a Sunday.
“It’s honestly embarrassing. We get people get off the train and go, ‘Okay, I want to go up to Thirlmere’, for example, and we have to explain to them that the next bus isn’t coming for sometimes two, two and a half hours. It’s a joke”.
Picton Buslines, like other contracted services in NSW, are mostly funded by the NSW Government on a per-kilometre and per-hour basis, with ticket revenue covering only a small percentage of operation costs.
Ferris acknowledges that Wollondilly residents are often upset with Picton Buslines but adds that “really all we can do is keep lobbying on behalf of the public to Transport [NSW]. We do that on a daily basis and until they get funding [from government], it sort of falls on deaf ears and gets pushed aside”.
Judy Hannan, MP for Wollondilly, says that she has also received numerous constituent complaints about buses.
“There’s thirty-two bus routes in the area, thirty of them are school bus routes. When school holidays are on, there’s no public transport to a lot of our towns and villages”.
Where next for public transport in the ‘Dilly?
A suburban development in Menangle. Wollondilly will house double its current population by 2040, yet there is no concrete public transport plan to rectify major deficits.
Despite much conjecture, there are no plans for the NSW Government to electrify the SHL, whilst in the realm of buses, systemic issues with contracting and funding are between more bus services and routes being implemented.
Andrew Ferris, Director of Picton Buslines highlighted that “unless there’s [increased] funding from Treasury, nothing’s going to change”.
The Sydney Morning Herald, however, has reported a new Wilton-Macarthur rail link is being investigated by Transport NSW.
When this masthead contacted Transport NSW for comment a spokesperson said: “Transport for NSW is in the very early stages of investigating opportunities to enhance public transport links between Wilton and Campbelltown.”
Wilton, in the eastern part of Wollondilly Shire, is a major growth area, 80km south of Sydney CBD. It is projected to house 45,000 extra residents by 2041.
They added that “further investigations are needed to assess other multimodal options which could range from improved bus services to rail options” and Transport NSW “is not considering a new alignment of the Main South Line (including the SHL)”.
Main image by Sam Lawrence.
