State Member for Charlestown, Ms Jodie Harrison MP, and State Member for Wallsend, Ms Sonia Hornery MP, have this week both moved a Notice of Motion calling for a stop at Cardiff Train Station to be reinstated when the new early morning express train service between Newcastle and Sydney begins in late November.
The new service will leave the Wickham interchange at 5.03am and will slash 26 minutes off the journey between Newcastle and Sydney, but will no longer stop at Cardiff Station.
Figures show that Cardiff Station has 80 commuters an hour more than Broadmeadow Station, but despite this, commuters using Cardiff Station will now be forced to travel to either Wickham, Broadmeadow or to southern Lake Macquarie to catch the fast service.
Quotes attributable to Member for Charlestown, Jodie Harrison
“Cardiff Station is the main rail stop servicing the Charlestown electorate for commuters travelling to Sydney and is highly utilised by my constituents.”
“Despite the high level of patronage, Cardiff Station has been excluded from the early morning express train trial to commence on 26 November.”
“The new fast train will reduce travel times by 26 minutes, but when I wrote to the Transport Minister about reinstating the Cardiff stop, he advised me that commuters should catch a train 20 minutes earlier and swap trains at Morisset.”
“Responses like that show out of touch and arrogant this Government is.”
Quotes attributable to Member for Wallsend, Sonia Hornery
“There is no doubt that commuters deserve faster train services and I applaud the efforts to shorten travel times on the Newcastle-Central Coast rail line.”
“But it should not exclude those living in the western suburbs of Newcastle. Cardiff is a favoured station for many commuters travelling from the Wallsend electorate as it is the closest station for the large growth areas such as Fletcher, Minmi and Maryland.”
“The Government says it has listened to the community, but they obviously haven’t discussed it with anyone from our area.”
“The number of people who board the train at Cardiff around this time in the morning warrants the station being reinstated as a stop for this express service.”