Western Sydney Airport

Western Sydney Airport
Badgerys Creek Airport

Outline of airport site (in blue)
 – land acquired by the Commonwealth.

Badgerys Creek Road and Parkland, within the proposed airport site.
IATA: SWZ – ICAO: none
Summary
Airport type Public (proposed)
Serves Western Sydney
Location Badgerys Creek, New South Wales, Australia
Elevation AMSL 262 ft / 80 m
Coordinates 33°52′46″S 150°44′23″E / 33.87944°S 150.73972°E / -33.87944; 150.73972Coordinates: 33°52′46″S 150°44′23″E / 33.87944°S 150.73972°E / -33.87944; 150.73972
Map
SWZ

Location in Greater metropolitan Sydney

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
Asphalt

The Western Sydney Airport, (also known as Badgerys Creek Airport) is a designated site for the second Sydney airport, located within the suburb of Badgerys Creek. The Airport is a planned 24hr or curfew free airport.[1] The site was officially designated by the Federal Government on 15 April 2014, after decades of debate on the location of another airport in the Sydney basin.[2]

The site of the proposed airport is situated 44 kilometres (27 mi) west of the Sydney CBD and 41 km (25 mi) west of the Kingsford Smith Airport. The site is located within 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) to the Blue Mountains National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site)[3] and lies 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) east to Warragamba Dam, Sydney's largest drinking water catchment.[4]

The site is within the City of Liverpool local government area and consists of approximately 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) of Commonwealth land that was acquired between 1986 and 1991.[5]

The Federal Government claims the initial construction phase is expected to generate around 4,000 jobs, the airport development is expected to create 35,000 jobs by 2035, increasing to 60,000 jobs over time.[2]

Flight Paths

On the 19th October 2015, the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was released by the coalition government. This Statement outlined the proposed flight paths for Western Sydney Airport from initial opening in mid 2020's to 2050 for future flight paths for an international expansion.[6]

After an extensive community backlash and as a last measure to secure her seat, Liberal MP Louise Markus (now ousted due to this issue[9]) and the coalition government announced a scrapping of this Blaxland merge point.[10]

Initial development

The site at Badgerys Creek was chosen because:

It is planned that the airport will be built in phases. The initial construction phase would see a smaller airport with a single runway. The cost of the initial development has been estimated at A$2.4 billion (as at 2012) and to generate 4,000 jobs. The government plans the initial phase would be complete and operational by 2025.[13] Sydney Airport Corporation, the operator of Sydney Airport, was given the right of first refusal to build and operate any second airport in an agreement reached with the Government when Sydney Airport was sold in 2002.[14]

It is believed the initial phase, with only one runway, would be favourable for budget airlines and airlines offering point to point travel. The airport will not have a night time curfew.[14]

Ground transport

With the designation of site as the location of Sydney's Second Airport, announcements were made on new and upgraded transport links to the airport and surrounding areas of western Sydney. The announcement included:[15]

As at 16 April 2014 the Federal Government has said it had no plans to build a train line. However it indicated provision for the train line would be included in the development, this may include preparing the tunnels under the runway as part of the runway construction and preparing the underground space for a station. It is likely the rail connection to the airport would consist of an extension to the South West Rail Link from Leppington.[16] In October 2015, Malcolm Turnbull - who had become Prime Minister the previous month - indicated that the Badgerys Creek Airport would need both road and rail links to Sydney.[17] A scoping study into rail investment to service Western Sydney and the Western Sydney Airport was announced in November 2015. The study is jointly managed by the state and federal governments.[18] A discussion paper was released in September 2016. The paper proposed various options that could provide a rail link to the airport:[19]

Option Mode
Extension of the South West Rail Link from Leppington Suburban rail
Line to the Sydney Metro Northwest at Rouse Hill Likely to be metro
Extension of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest from Bankstown via Liverpool Metro
Line to the Main Western railway line at St Marys Suburban rail
Express line to the Sydney CBD via Parramatta Unknown
Line between Macarthur and Schofields via WSA and St Marys Likely to be metro

The site of the planned airport is presently serviced by bus. As at April 2014, route 801 connects Badgerys Creek to Liverpool[20] while route 789 runs between Luddenham and Penrith.[21]

Current site

The site of the proposed airport is an area of undulating low-lying hills with several small watercourses and lakes. The area is primarily farmland and large acreage allotments.

Development milestones

Construction timeline

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://westernsydneyairport.gov.au/files/summary_brochure-an_airport_for_WS.pdf
  2. 1 2 Truss, Warren; Abbott, Tony. "Western Sydney Airport to Deliver Jobs and Infrastructure". Ministry for Inreastructure and Regional Development (Press release). Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  3. ↑ http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/917
  4. ↑ "Visit Warragamba Dam".
  5. 1 2 "Fact sheet: Why was Badgerys Creek chosen?". Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development. Commonwealth of Australia.
  6. ↑ http://westernsydneyairport.gov.au/resources/deis/
  7. ↑ http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/news/penrith-and-blue-mountains-avoid-western-sydney-airport-plane-noise-but-still-under-flight-path/news-story/2537102627625bb0f2c5f73e5e09d40f
  8. ↑ http://www.bluemts.com.au/info/towns/blaxland/
  9. ↑ http://www.news.com.au/national/federal-election/what-went-wrong-for-the-coalition-in-bass-bowman-braddon-lindsay-edenmonaro--and-the-other-seats-they-lost/news-story/40fb0209495422ded46d9388369b97b9
  10. ↑ http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/minister-paul-fletcher-silent-on-badgerys-airport-noise-plans/news-story/5fffbee9cc9712f061618d4f2d5a9da0
  11. 1 2 http://westernsydneyairport.gov.au/resources/eis/index.aspx
  12. ↑ http://westernsydneyairport.gov.au/resources/eis/files/WSA-EIS-Volume-2a-Stage-1-Development.pdf
  13. ↑ "Fact sheet: Building an airport at Badgerys Creek". Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development. Commonwealth of Australia.
  14. 1 2 O'Sullivan, Matt (16 April 2014). "Sydney Airport looks west". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  15. ↑ "Delivering the Western Sydney Economic Infrastructure Plan". Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development. Commonwealth of Australia. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  16. ↑ Saulwick, Jacob (16 April 2014). "Federal government plans for airport rail line but will not build it". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  17. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/oct/16/malcolm-turnbull-sydney-airport-badgerys-creek-airport-rail
  18. ↑ "Western Sydney Airport". Transport for NSW. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  19. ↑ "Western Sydney Rail Needs Scoping Study: Chapter 6 - The options" (PDF). Transport for NSW. September 2016.
  20. ↑ "Route 801: Badgerys Creek to Liverpool". Timetables. Transit Systems. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  21. ↑ "ROUTE 789: Penrith to Luddenham". Busways. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  22. ↑ Truss, Warren (18 August 2014). "Western Sydney airport: Notice to Consult issued today". Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. Australian Government. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  23. ↑ "Construction starts on first Western Sydney Airport road". Prime Minister of Australia. Australian Government. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  24. ↑ Truss, Warren (20 January 2015). "Geotechnical analysis starts at Badgerys Creek". Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. Australian Government. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  25. ↑ Nageshwar, Pranesh (13 April 2015). "Nick the Slasher forced to join airport exodus at Badgerys Creek". Penrith Press. News Corporation. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  26. 1 2 3 "The Western Sydney Airport Draft Environmental Impact Statement 2015". Western Sydney Airport. Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Western Sydney Airport.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.