Saturday, May 4, 2013

Inner-west light rail extension issue

With the inner west light rail extension currently being built in preparation for it's opening in early 2014 (the current NSW Liberal/National Government have not given a firm date/month as of yet), which is a boost for people with disabilities within the area who currently only have access to wheelchair accessible bus services operated by Sydney Buses, it would seem that if you require to go to Dulwich Hill Interchange to catch a train service to either Bankstown, Liverpool, Sydenham or beyond, then your in for a very rude shock.

It would seem that whilst the interchange tram stop at Dulwich Hill will in fact be wheelchair accessible with a lift and ramps, it would seem the current CityRail (soon to be Sydney Trains) Station will not be getting an upgrade to become wheelchair accessible if the artist impression is to go by:

It would seem there is actually nothing stating if the train station would be made accessible anytime within the next five years or so, yet the next station down the road, Marrickville station, is currently earmarked for an upgrade and early preparation/consultation analysis is being undertaken.

Given that the current Transport Minister, Gladys Berjiklian has stated on numerous times, she and her so called team at Transport for NSW (TfNSW) are fixing the backlog of projects and have undertaken and will ensure the delivery of the inner-west light rail project will be delivered without any real additional concerns nor issues such as this, as they were ensuring they got it right the first time, you only have to ask yourself this - who is she trying to kid?

Surely this is an oversight that can be easily corrected immediately with works also being looked into for an upgrade of Dulwich Hill Station, to make it too accessible to all?

TfANSW will be putting the issue to the Minster for comment and will advise via this blog and our Facebook/Twitter/Google+ pages of the outcome when it comes to us immediately.