A Blue Mountains train station is getting lifts ahead of Unanderra, despite being ranked lower under Transport for NSW criteria.
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Transport for NSW (TfNSW) uses a range of criteria to rank stations for upgrades under its Transport Access Program.
Information received under a Government Information request shows that, as of October 2016, Leura station was ranked 14th, while Unanderra was 11th.
Despite this the government is proceeding with an upgrade at Leura station, which includes a new lift.
A TfNSW statement on Thursday implied work on plans for Unanderra had been “deferred” while the Leura project had been brought forward.
The documents also show that Unanderra scores higher than Leura on almost all measures (see above image), except “recreation and tourism”.
Unanderra scored zero in this category, even though it is the closest station to the Nan Tien Temple, a site visited by many tourists each year.
Wollongong MP Paul Scully said the documents called into question the government’s oft-cited claim to create a transparent assessment approach to deciding which stations to upgrade.
“The only conclusion that can be drawn from the information in that [government information] request is that politics is setting the priority for this government when it comes to improving access for public transport,” Mr Scully said.
He said he was stunned that Transport for NSW had given Unanderra station a zero in the tourism category.
He said the government should be “embarrassed” and needed to allocate funds to lifts at Unanderra in the upcoming June state budget.
A TfNSW spokeswoman said extra “feasibility work” was undertaken at each station after initial assessments.
“We identified the need to improve a concept plan drafted for Unanderra’s upgrade due to the location of underground services,” the spokeswoman said.
She said a Unanderra upgrade would “continue to be considered as part of the Transport Access Program.”