Commuters in Sydney can look forward to “seven months of misery”

Commuters in Sydney can look forward to “seven months of misery” as one of the newest parts of the rail network, which opened less than a decade ago, is shut down because it’s no longer fit for purpose.

On Wednesday, the NSW Government announced that the Epping to Chatswood line, which is just eight years old, would be temporarily closed during the latter half of 2018 and early 2019.

While there is nothing wrong with the line, it nonetheless has a big problem. It was built, at a cost of more than $2 billion, to accommodate regular Sydney suburban double deck trains. But it will have to undergo substantial changes because the Government wants it to be a key part of the Sydney Metro — and that only uses single decker trains.

The Greens said the work was entirely avoidable; the train line was being cut for “no good reason” and it would lead to “a traffic disaster”.

Replacement bus services could double some passengers’ daily commute time, they won’t have the capacity of the total capacity of the current trains and there are doubts there will enough under cover bus stops for all the detrained customers.

Read more by Benedict Brook on news.com.au