Being followed into empty carriages and being propositioned by an ageing opportunist are two of the lowlights of Emily Peace’s City Rail experience – but only just.
The 20-year-old Penrith student’s dreams of becoming a lawyer have almost been derailed by a transport system that doesn’t meet the needs of western Sydney people.
But the metal worker’s daughter is fascinated by criminology and still wants to be a prosecutor who locks up the bad guys.
Emily started a social science degree at UWS Penrith and was able to transfer to a law degree this year but it meant moving to the university’s Campbelltown campus.
But, two terms into that degree, she has opted to add a year to her studies. Emily has cut back her days at uni in order to spend less of her life hanging around railway stations.
Despite western Sydney being home to over half of Sydney’s population there is still no direct rail link between its two largest centres, Penrith and Campbelltown.
A round road trip of about 100km can be a four-hour endurance event by rail.
“It is very frustrating and it lowers your motivation. This week I have had a virus and I haven’t been able to face the trip to university. Last year, when I studied at Penrith I would have got up and gone,” Emily said.
“I can easily spend 45 minutes waiting at Glenfield Station for a connecting train after 7pm. It’s uncomfortable and I don’t feel safe.”
It was at Glenfield that a man followed her into a carriage and propositioned her.
“He got up and left when he realised I wasn’t going to play along,” she says. “In fact, he got off the train, he wasn’t even travelling. It was frightening.”
As most Sydneysiders will tell you, their rail system is okay for single trips but, if you need to make a connection – good luck!
And that’s the problem for people who travel between Penrith and Campbelltown.
On a good day Emily can get there in 1.5 hours but good days are thin on the ground. Two hours each way is more common and it is the hanging around, waiting for connections that often don’t arrive, that is really frustrating.
Emily’s odyssey involves boarding at Penrith, getting off at Granville, jumping on a train to Glenfield, disembarking and waiting, sometimes three-quarters of an hour for the connection to Macarthur. From there, it’s a 10-minute walk to the university.
Some days she is up at 5am and doesn’t get home until after 9pm.
The trip costs her $15.60 a day. Because she works one or two shifts a week behind a counter in the Penrith Arcade she doesn’t qualify for a concession.
Emily has joined the Sydney Alliance’s Nepean organising committee and is keen to work on improving public transport in the region.
“It is one of the biggest complaints you hear,” she says. “I would say that Penrith people avoid using the trains as much as we can.
“At the moment, public transport is a deterrent. If you don’t drive you are in trouble and I think we can do better than that.”
JM/
