Both Sydney dailies have carried stories that should make both the NSW Government and the Opposition sit up and take notice.
See the stories and tell the letters editors what you think!

Slow trains push commuters onto motorways - ANDREW WEST (SMH TRANSPORT)
January 16, 2010

Despite an Upper House order to produce all documents related to the Steer Report (produced by NSW Treasury and leaked to the SMH earlier this year) and the 2007 discussion paper on the M4 East, at least six boxes of documents have not been provided for public examination. Indeed, the only materials that have been released are documents that are already in the public domain.

We have received a lovely response from the NSW Opposition Leader on our latest newspaper. We are hoping to collect a great many more in the next few weeks. A landslide of popular opinion against the project that is set to starve the CityRail Network of funds and steal the corridor that will help expand CityRail's capacity by around 50%!

Here's the start of the list:

It has been revealed that the recent decision to attempt a change to the legislation on the closure of currently unused railway corridors may have had a push from the man who has been accusing EcoTransit Sydney of trying to eliminate cycling in the Rozelle Goods line corridor.

EcoTransit Sydney has taken the need to Stop the Metro Madness to the streets and railway network. This paper is being handed out from Newcastle to areas of the South Coast. Download an electronic copy of the most important news you're going to see in public transport.

http://ecotransit.org.au/ets/files/ETN_0909_CBDMetro.pdf (1.6MB PDF)

See the latest updates on the Metro Madness Blog!

Send a Metro Madness e-card to friends, family and your pick of the pollies!

View the YouTube video of the protest at Macquarie Street on the 9th of September 2009

Send a message to the Premier and the Minister for Transport: Don't Rip Up Our Rail!

We are indebted to Russell Edwards for these probing questions.

Q1. Do you have links with the major political parties? (including the Greens).

EcoTransit has no links with any political party. We lobby all political parties, and the projects and policies advocated by us are available to be adopted by any party. In the last local government elections, candidates from across the political spectrum supported the extension of light rail to Dulwich Hill.

(as printed in Crikey.com on Thursday, 26 March 2009)
Gavin Gatenby, co-convenor of public transport advocacy group EcoTransit Sydney, writes:

NSW Premier Nathan Rees has his hand out for billions in federal funding for Sydney public transport projects, but the gurus at Infrastructure Australia should be asking some hard questions because something seems terribly wrong with the cost of rail construction in NSW.

Sydney is crying out for more public transport capacity and the Rozelle goods line is just sitting there, waiting to be used. If the NSW Government consented to extension of the current light rail service to Dulwich Hill, the communities of the inner west would get an additional six kilometres of fast, reliable, public transport that’s immune to soaring petrol prices and never gets stuck in traffic. Everyone else would get the benefit of the extra road-space, and trains, train stations, and buses that are less like sardine tins!

Like a blinding flash, came the proposal for a North West Metro line...the question is will it get built?