Speaker Marc h 2021 Ted Nye

Our speaker at the March meeting was Ted Nye, a civil engineering consultant specialising in major underground infrastructure projects (mostly railways and roads) who has had some involvement with major infrastructure developments in Melbourne and Brisbane but particularly with many of the road and rail projects in Sydney that involve extensive tunnelling. Although entering his profession in Melbourne he now lives locally on the Northern Beaches and so, following an overview of current and planned railway and highway developments in and around Sydney, he introduced us to two passenger railway concepts that could have some appeal (or concern) to ourselves. One being an extension of the existing heavy-rail system, connecting at Bondi Junction and then passing under the Sydney harbour entrance, continuing to Brookvale and then to Gosford thus providing a second rail corridor from Sydney’s CBD to the Central Coast. The other being a light-rail (tram) from Brookvale to Chatswood. Both would substantially run underground in tunnels constructed using tunnel boring machines (TBMs).
Ted expressed deep concern that we on the Northern Beaches have never truly been brought into meaningful discussions about the various options available for resolving our long term planning and transport issues. To date most public discussion has focussed on short term objectives and road tunnels. Sydney’s population is likely to reach ten million by 2066 and for various reasons Ted is of a school that sees certain advantages in this occurring along a coastal corridor towards Newcastle rather than an endless expansion inland. In Ted’s view, long term passenger transport solutions must rely on enhanced public transport with heavy-rail the best suited for moving large numbers of people. Based on known geology, the corridor under Sydney Heads is feasible and with a cost per unit length similar to the tunnels recently constructed west of the Harbour Bridge for the Sydney Metro-2 project. This second corridor would also allow travel north of Sydney in event of a system failure elsewhere.
The light rail between Brookvale and Chatswood is premised on schemes presently being considered for developing Brookvale as a larger industrial area and business hub and a preference for a relatively inexpensive stand-alone people carrier that links two major centres without all its functions having to be fully integrated with the daily operation of the overall Sydney railway system. It would have a limited number of strategically placed stations, one most likely at the Northern Beaches Hospital. It will be interesting to see if these concepts are brought to the fore in future public discussion.
Reporter: Peter Cockerill