Auburn. Minister opens $220m centre

Minister for Transport, John Robertson, opened the $220 million Auburn Maintenance Centre, which will become home to the new Waratah air-conditioned train fleet. The purpose-built centre was built by Reliance Rail to provide maintenance and servicing for the new train carriages. “The two kilometre long centre consists of seven maintenance tracks, a test siding, an automatic train wash plant and under floor wheel-profiling facility,” Mr Robertson said. The facility will employ around 150 people.

Parramatta. Passengers to change trains

The first step in the State Government's proposal to convert to single-deck trains will be to terminate all western line services from Parramatta at Central Station, forcing 40,000 passengers to change trains twice a day to get to and from Town Hall and Wynyard stations. The NSW Treasury is working on an estimated cost of $2 million to convert just the western line from Parramatta to Central, The Sydney Morning Herald said.

Parramatta. Single-deck trains possible

If the Federal Government provided funds for the CBD metro rail line, the State Government was considering three complementary projects, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. One would be a multibillion-dollar purchase of single-deck trains for western suburbs services that would run on the CityRail network between Parramatta and Central.