RESIDENTS will be able to watch trains trundle past their bedroom windows - and office workers will do the same from their desks - under a new vision to build high-rises over Sydney's railway tracks.

A 3km corridor from Central to Eveleigh would open more than one million square metres of space, making it the biggest urban renewal in the city and dwarfing the $6 billion Barangaroo precinct.



The plans include seven major bike paths, six "high density neighbourhoods" near Eveleigh and the Australian Technology Park and high-rises over rail lines at Central and Redfern stations.



The state government will pitch the plan to global developers worldwide in a bid to emulate London, New York and San Francisco, where office, retail and apartment blocks have been built over train stations using bridge construction technology.



The renewal corridor runs from the Goulburn St car park to the Macdonaldtown station.

Planning Minister Brad Hazzard said the vision would reinvigorate Sydney's "dead heart", calling on developers to "knock on Sydney's door".



"There area only three crossing over the rail lines but building above the corridor will allow more crossings to unite Redfern and Ultimo," he said.



Documents reveal the plan would allow for a second Harbour rail crossing and a new CBD rail line and the government would make land packages or sub-precincts available instead of delivering it in one chunk.

The mammoth project has a 20-year time frame, with development to occur in stages.



Urban Taskforce CEO Chris Johnson said he was concerned the vision would be lost as the government hands planning to anti-tower communities.





media_camera The current location of a proposed transport development in Redfern.

"Seventy-storey towers near heritage buildings and glittering high-rises from Central to Macdonaldtown is unlikely to be what community action groups are positive about," he said.

"The cost of building over railways while they are operating is enormous. If community groups want them four or five storeys there is no way they have a chance of happening."



Bringing life to the city

Property Council of Australia NSW executive director Glenn Byres said the council backed the plan to "activate the city's southern gateway".

"Leveraging the government's own land banks and transport corridors to generate new jobs, homes and investment makes sense," he said.





media_camera Central Station is set for a makeover. Picture: Bradley Hunter







Mr Hazzard said it was an urban renewal opportunity unrivalled anywhere in Australia.



"By building above the rail lines and on under-utilised land we can potentially make available more than one million square metres of new floor space - double the size of Barangaroo," he said.



"We expect strong international interest in the renewal of the corridor as it presents an engineering and redevelopment challenge that has not existed in Sydney for decades."

The Daily Telegraph understands the land has height restrictions under Commonwealth legislation as it is within the protected airspace perimeter of Sydney airport.

media_camera Commuters at Sydney's Central train station in its current form. Picture: Bradley Hunter

Lord mayor Clover Moore said she would support a "strategic study" on future development of the precinct but was concerned the state government was calling for unsolicited proposals.



"A major project on this site could join long-divided parts of the city and provide future capacity for employment, productivity and growth," she said.

"I’m concerned by the current trend for unsolicited proposals – a major proposal like this needs to go through a proper public process."



Ms Moore said Central to Eveleigh would take years and the new plan should consider future transport needs, strategic employment growth for the city, the potential for linking roads and streets, and for creating new parks and open space.

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