It’s time for a Metro: Northern Beaches Mayor

“First of all, it’s not a train line, it’s a metro service,” Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins told the Lorikeet. 

For decades, the Northern Beaches has been defined, in part, by its lack of trains. 

From John Bradfield in the 1920s to Bob Carr in the 1990s, many have spoken about laying tracks from the Sydney CBD and/or Chatswood to Manly or Dee Why.

Typically, residents and councils have pushed back, with the stereotype being that Sydney’s other insular peninsula doesn’t want to make it too easy for the riff raff to hit the beaches in summer.

But now Heins says times have to change. 

“If someone doesn't start looking long-term and planning for changes, we’re going to be in strife,” she said. 

What happened: Earlier this year, four Northern Sydney mayors — representing the councils of North Sydney, Mosman, Northern Beaches and Willoughby — met with the NSW Minister for Roads, Jenny Aitchison. 

Heins, representing Palm Beach down to Manly, said it was time for the beaches to get a metro service.

Now, the declaration is in writing. The council’s official response to the Northern Beaches Network Review calls for the state to commit to “the investigation of a high volume, fast, resilient and reliable mass transit public transport solution, such as a Metro solution, for the Northern Beaches”. 

The Northern Beaches Network Review is a state-run report on the roads in and around the beaches. Released earlier this year, it found the roads to be congested, and existing public transport to be unreliable. Heins says locals have known this for years. 

Busy roads: “We just rely on buses out here,” she said. 

“It's really obvious, it's getting more and more congested … we’ve now got nine dedicated centres [for increased development].”

How much: There have been no costings for a Metro. When asked about the matter in the NSW Parliament last year, Aitchison said: “The government has not done analysis or considered a Sydney Metro line to the Northern Beaches, Dee Why or Frenchs Forest.”

• The 36km stretch of the Metro North West Line running from Tallawong to Chatswood has a budget of $8.3 billion. This line includes underground and above ground sections. 

Heins said there would “always be pushback”, but that with only three roads in and out of the beaches — including one heavily congested Spit Bridge — it was time to consider a Metro. 

“For residents, their decision now is: do they go all the way down to Manly and get a ferry, or drive to Chatswood and get the metro?”