Last week, a “Cabinet-in-Confidence” report produced by Transport for NSW was publically released, and it revealed an interesting proposal to build a rail tunnel connecting Southern Sydney to the Illawarra and Wollongong. The report indicated that the so-called “Thirroul Tunnel” between Waterfall and Thirroul would cut the Wollongong to Sydney commute down from about 90 minutes to an hour.  

In addition, the tunnel would cost several billion dollars less than the NSW Government’s proposed F6 motorway (an estimated $3.6 billion versus $8 -10 billion).  There are early suggestions that the new F6 could even be built through Sydney’s Royal National Park. Nic talked with NSW Greens MP and Transport Spokesperson Dr Mehreen Faruqi about the secret scrapping of this rail investment and the State Government’s apparent preference for motorway investment over other transport alternatives.