New Transport for NSW commuter statistics show Sydneysiders make an estimated 1.2 million trips each day on our trains. Sydney's train system is moving more people by rail each day than every city in the United States, bar New York.

The city's annual rail patronage has increased strongly over the past decade, from 260 million in 2004-2005 to more than 365 million last year. Our trains are running at or over capacity in the rush hour.

People are shocked when I say Sydney is a city that depends on trains. Car is still king only if you exclude the postcode that generates the country's highest share of gross domestic product, Sydney's CBD.

Nearly 300,000 people work in the CBD, the vast majority of whom are commuters making return trips to and from the city. Given road congestion and a lack of parking we know we can't simply replace trains with cars to access the CBD. We would need to convert enormous areas into carparks to accommodate 300,000 more cars.