Part A
I read in today's Australian that the PM intends to hand $300m to local government in the hope of stimulating the economy.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24669340-601,00.html
In the same article the PM is quoted as saying:
"The nation is crying out for infrastructure development. The nation is tired of our excuses for not acting."
Please excuse my ignorance here, but isn't this the same PM Rudd who told the NSW State Government to get stuffed with regards a $12bn project... wouldn't $12bn have got the economy stimulated?
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/no-labor-votes-in-metro/2008/10/06/1223145261827.html
THE Federal Government has told NSW not to bother asking for funds for the $12 billion North West Metro project because there are no federal Labor votes in it.
The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, told a meeting in February involving the former premier, Morris Iemma, and senior state bureaucrats that they were not interested in the rail project because Labor had no marginal seats in the area it would service, senior NSW sources said.
Is that what this is about Mr Rudd? Are you intending to buy votes for $300m when the state government was "crying out for infrastructure development. The nation is tired of our excuses for not acting."? Is NSW not part of the nation? You all seem to happy to rip most of the GST that's collected Federally and give it to the other states, but in times of crisis you are perfectly happy to tell us to get stuffed.
What's it to be Mr Rudd? So far you haven't bought my vote. Call me cynical maybe but if you give $300m to local councils, then a lot of roundabouts will start appearing and little white tents full of council workers having cups of tea. Perhaps a little bit of testicular fortitude is in order. Have a think about Sir George Warburton Fuller KCMG, whilst people may not remember his name, his legacy still stands today... a Sydney Suburban Rail Network and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and this was completed during a far worse financial crisis than the current one... something called the Great Depression?
Part B
The train on Platform 2 goes to Rouse Hill. First stop Martin Place, then Wynyard, Pyrmont, Rozelle, and all stations to Rouse Hill. Change at Epping for Hornsby, Northern Line and Macquarie Line Services.
...and so the speakers at St James would have announced before an OSCAR (short form for Outer Suburban CARs) departed from one of the centre platforms. Sadly, this plan has been scrapped twice since its inception and I don't see the NSW Government doing anything more about it. Premier Nathan Rees formally announced the dumping of the $12bn plan citing the state's existing financial woes.
I now present the following picture from the North West Metro website now defunct and a photo.
I wonder if this is a case of plagiarism. I mean clearly the "proposed" Castle Hill Railway Station and the current Macquarie Park Railway Station are for all intents identical. It does make some degree of sense when you consider that at one stage poissibly within the the past 5 years that they could conceivably been part of the same project, though I tend to think that there might be a little bit of laziness on the part of the website designer. Admittedly they had to show something so why not render a picture of a railway station that's not yet been opened, the public are too stupid to know the difference... except that some of us are fanatics.
I will admit that I like the idea that several stations on the same line should have a distinct "feel" about them. Museum and St James were built as a pair, the Eastern Suburbs Railway Line has 1.5" tiles that are colour-coded for every station and even the airport line albeit a little sterile has a breezy look about it. Something about Castle Hill Station being a total rip-off though left me a little flat though. Where's the imagination of the designers? Then again if you're just going to reneg on $12bn you can't expect imagination anymore can you? Designers also like to be fed too.
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