Community action group REDWatch says city commuters heading in one direction and Sydney University students heading the other way, plus converging cyclists and heavy traffic, all add up to a disaster waiting to happen.
“The major issue is university students”, says REDWatch spokesperson, Geoff Turnbull.
“State governments of all persuasions have been promising an upgrade at Redfern station since the 1940s, but it’s always been in the too-hard basket. Redfern station handles 22,000 commuters a day, and in peak times students spill out from the narrow footpath onto busy Lawson Street. Now the University wants to increase student numbers by 21 per cent,” says Mr Turnbull, “and attract students from around the world.”
For most of these students, however, the pedestrian- and traffic-choked Redfern station will remain the main gateway to this former top-50 world ranked university.
“Forget attracting more international students to Sydney to boost Australia’s export income,” says Mr Turnbull. “When they eventually get frustrated with the daily battle at Redfern, they’ll simply go elsewhere. The problem is, there’s simply nowhere for the students to go.
“The best solution is now 20 years old, and that is one exit at the front of the station and a second exit at the back of the station into Wilson Street.”
Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian was unable to respond to the SSH this month, but Geoff Turnbull is in no doubt what he’d like to ask the minister.
“REDWatch wants to know when the new lift will be installed as it doesn’t seem to be in the current works program; and the timeframe for a complete upgrade of the station.”
