Rouse Hill railway station

Rouse Hill
Rouse Hill Station worksite, adjacent to North West T-way
Location	Tempus Street, Rouse Hill New South Wales Australia
Owned by	Transport for New South Wales
Operated by	Northwest Rapid Transit
Distance	32km from Chatswood
Platforms	2
Train operators	Northwest Rapid Transit
Connections	Bus
Construction
Structure type	Elevated
Bicycle facilities	40 spaces
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opening	Early 2019
Services
← Cudgegong Road · Kellyvile →

Rouse Hill is an elevated rapid transit station being built by the Northwest Rapid Transit (NRT) consortium at the Rouse Hill Town Centre in Sydney, Australia. The project forms part of Transport for New South Wales's $8.3 billion Sydney Metro Northwest scheme. Rouse Hill Station will be one of two new metro stops in the suburb: the other, Cudgegong Road, is being built a few kilometres to the west.

From 2019, Rouse Hill Station will provide frequent train services to Chatswood. In later years, as the metro network expands, the Government intends to run trains to the Sydney central business district, Bankstown, Marsden Park and Hurstville.^[1][2]

Background

Then-rural Rouse Hill was identified by Sydney's 1988 metropolitan strategy, Sydney Into Its Third Century, as an area for future development. Under the previous 1968 strategy, new Western Sydney suburbs could only be formed within the broad corridors formed by the suburban rail system. In approving Sydney Into Its Third Century, Planning Minister Bob Carr abolished this guideline: henceforth new areas such as Rouse Hill could be developed far from rail lines, provided space was left for future transport infrastructure.^[3]

A decade later, as the region began to grow, Carr had risen to become premier, and sought solutions to the new suburbs' transport problems. The Government's public transport strategy, Action for Transport 2010, released in 1998, proposed a new railway line from the existing suburban network at Epping to Castle Hill. From Castle Hill, the plan said, passengers would change onto a new bus rapid transit system, to be built using the district's hitherto-vacant transport corridors. Both the Castle Hill rail and busway projects were promised for 2010: only the busway eventuated, and only in part.^[4][5]

The 1998 plan listed the extension of the Castle Hill line to Rouse Hill as a priority for the decade 2010-20.^[4] From then on, a Rouse Hill Station appeared in successive north-western rail proposals, including the "Long-Term Plan for Rail" in 2001,^[6] the Metropolitan Rail Expansion Plan in 2005, and a short-lived metro proposal in 2008. As of 2011, nothing had been built besides the Rouse Hill to Parramatta section of the busway network.

Following a change of government, work on the North West Rail Link commenced in 2013.^[7]

Design and construction

Under its $3.7 billion "Operations, Trains and Systems" contract with Transport for NSW, NRT is responsible for the design, construction, fit-out and operation of the new station.^{[8][9][10][11]}

The station will be located just to the south of the proposed Old Windsor Road rail bridge. This structure, a cable-stayed suspension bridge designed by Italian civil firm Salini Impregilo, is intended to become a visual icon for the district.^[12] Both are expected to open in 2019.

References