Cable car to transport people from White Bay to Barangaroo

The trip would take less than five minutes

Among the five stops would be a station on top of the Star casino

Expected to be a tourist attraction to rival climbing the Harbour Bridge

SYDNEY business leaders are backing a proposal to build a fast cable car across Sydney Harbour which could transport people from Balmain’s White Bay through Pyrmont to Barangaroo in less than five minutes.

Key businesses, including cruise line Carnival Australia and Pyrmont’s The Star casino owner Echo Entertainment, have joined the Sydney Business Chamber and Committee for Sydney in calling on the Baird government to seriously consider the project’s merits.

CHILLING MOMENT BEFORE LION ATTACKED WOMAN

BULLDOZER BLITZ: MAN CHARGED

The chief executive of the government’s development arm, UrbanGrowth NSW, David Pitchford, also offered preliminary support yesterday, saying the proposal was “a perfect example of the innovation and entrepreneurship we want to introduce into the transformation of the Bays precinct’’.

media_camera The plan

Under the Harbour Skylink plan, a 3.4km cable system would be built from Rozelle Bay, with stations at the White Bay Power Station, White Bay Cruise Terminal, Pyrmont and Barangaroo.

Harbour Skylink deputy chairwoman Melissa Cuturich, who will present details to the Committee for Sydney today, said it would only take 4.5 minutes to travel from the cruise terminal to Barangaroo compared to the present travel time of 30 minutes.

She said the project, using high-tech cabins capable of transporting commuters with bicycles and luggage, would be privately funded but would need access to some government controlled property.

“Sydney needs projects as imaginative as this: a project with sky high ambitions for our global city.’’

It is understood Echo Entertainment has been involved in discussions to site the Pyrmont station on top of The Star casino.

Carnival Australia chief executive Ann Sherry recently said better transport options were needed to service the White Bay terminal, as buses were often caught in heavy congestion on the Anzac Bridge.

“We agree that transport options including potentially innovative ones need to be considered,’’ a spokesman said yesterday.

With transport around the fast-growing Western Harbour precinct emerging as a major problem, an Echo spokesman said, “Any initiative that could contribute to improving connectivity to and around such an important precinct is worth looking at.”

media_camera Passengers ride on the type of cable car that would run on the proposed Harbour Sky Link from Rozelle Bay to Barangaroo. Source: Supplied

About 24,000 people will be working in the three new commercial towers being built at Barangaroo South and the Harbour Skylink team believes a cable car system could be built within 18 months, far more quickly than road and tunnel projects.

Committee for Sydney chief executive Tim Williams said the project could be utilised by everyday commuters as well as become as big a tourism drawcard as the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb or the London Eye ferris wheel.

“Sydney needs projects as imaginative as this: a project with sky high ambitions for our global city,’’ he said.