In early 2026, under a Government Information Public Access (GIPA) request, Eveleigh Bridge Alliance received copies of some of the studies undertaken between 2020 and 2025 regarding potential connections across the Eveleigh railway corridor. These studies were produced for or by Transport for NSW (TfNSW) surrounding the rezoning of Redfern North Eveleigh’s Paint Shop precinct. Costings and financial feasibility documents were withheld by TfNSW.
Below are the key documents released with some comments from Eveleigh Bridge Alliance. The full release can be found here.
A June 2025 “North to South Eveleigh Active Transport Link Public transport Projects- Optioneering Review (v3)” evaluated a number of Eveleigh bridge and tunnel options and concluded Option 4 was the preferred option. Option 4 connects between Carriageworks and the Paintshop at North Eveleigh to between the Large Erecting Shop and the Locomotive Workshop at South Eveleigh. The study further concluded that a Steel Truss Launch Sequence could be used to build the bridge. Section 5 Estimate Summary was withheld from the documents released.
There are some issues with the Preferred Plan. It is still 8 metres above the rail line and Eveleigh Bridge Alliance has been told that it could be as low as 6.5 meters without holding rail wiring. The consequence of this height and that South Eveleigh is lower than North Eveleigh has lead to proposals for no bicycle ramp and only lifts and escalators on the South side. The Eveleigh Bridge Alliance is looking for suggestions to address these problems with the preferred plan.
Here you can read or download Transport for NSW’s Optioneering Review.
Consultancy firm ARUP undertook a number of technical studies looking at options for a crossing from North to South Eveleigh. These studies provided the basis for the options assessed in the Optioneering report.
While to Optioneering Report uses 8 meters as the clearance height across the railway line various ARUP reports have used 9 and 10 meters. The Eveleigh Bridge Alliance has been told that it could be possible for the bridge to be as low as 6.5 meters without overhead wiring or 5.9 meters with wiring. The height above the rail line and the lower land level to the south impact on if cycle ramping is possible or if the lifts and escalators proposed will be the only option at South Eveleigh. The Eveleigh Bridge Alliance is looking for input on how the technical challenges might be ovewrcome.
Here you can read or download the key ARUP reports released under the GIPA.
Consultancy Curio Projects provided a report covering the potential heritage impacts of a bridge between Carriageworks and South Eveleigh. Of major concern to the heritage report was the potential impact on the Traverser between Carriageworks and the Paint Shop. Which is key to interpreting how the site historically functions. Currently the traversers on both sides of Carriageworks sit rusting with no attempt by TfNSW to preserve them. Curio also assesses the potential impact of a bridge on the historical sight lines.
An Eveleigh pedestrian and cycle bridge will involve some heritage impacts that will need to be assessed. There may also be some heritage benefits from a bridge that stitches the two sides of the Railway Workshops back together allowing improved vantage points for viewing the site. Ramping will be an important consideration. Potentially the traverser could be moved to allow construction and replaced and interpreted after construction.
Here you can read or download the Heritage Assessment released in the GIPA.
Catchment Analysis by SCT ConsultingThere were three versions of the SCT Consulting Catchment Analysis released and significant changes appear over the evolution of this document which have the effect of lessening the expected benefit of the proposed bridge feeding into the cost benefit analysis which was not released.
For example, version 1 of this report had an average time saving of 5-8 minutes while version 5 reduced the time saving to 3 minutes. Average time calculations depend on what is averaged a more accurate view of benefit is probably people hours saved per day.
Eveleigh Bridge Alliance calculations based on Google travel times indicate that a trip from the University of Sydney Business School to the Commonwealth Bank at South Eveleigh with a bridge at Carriageworks would save 11 minutes of the current trip.
The people hours saved figure also fluctuated widely raising questions about the basis for the projections which are not spelt out in the report. Eveleigh Bridge Alliance has asked for clarification on the catchment analysis from both SCT Consulting and TfNSW without receiving clarification.
The final version of the report (v5) is shown below and includes a subsequently dismissed retail assessment if retail was included in the Paint Shop precinct. The ARUP documents above included v3 of the report and v1 can be accessed in the full GIPA download here.
Eveleigh Bridge Alliance is looking for data sources that will help test the catchment analysis which are key to establishing the benefit of the bridge to be weighed against its cost. Here you can read or download Version 5 of the Bridge Catchment Analysis.
TfNSW refused to release the Estimate Summary in the TfNSW June 2025 Optioneering report. It also withheld preliminary budget estimates for the development of an active transport link between North and South Eveleigh prepared by WT Partnership. These reports were from 11 November 2022 (Record 5), 17 November 2022 (Record 8), May 2023 (Record 10) and July 2025 (Record 9). The last two were just before the TfNSW Optioneering report Record 7) where summary information was also withheld.
In a letter from The Hon John Graham MLC, the Minister for Transport, to REDWatch on 29 April 2026 Minister Graham advised that the “NSW Government has no plans to progress this proposal at this time” and that “the proposal is not financially viable”.
Eveleigh Bridge Alliance appreciates that building the pedestrian and bicycle bridge across the railway corridor is a difficult and costly project. The bridge was initially promised in 2004 by Premier Bob Carr as the community benefit for developments in the area under the Redfern Waterloo Authority. The development of the third of the Redfern, Eveleigh, Darlington and waterloo area owned by the government in 2004 has proceeded while the bridge has not.
When the Redfern North Eveleigh Paint Shop Precinct was rezoned in 2022 the NSW Planning Department made a provision for a bridge to land in North Eveleigh but said that: “Detailed consideration is outside the project scope and does not have NSW Government funding”.
For the project to proceed it would need a business case and that would need to address both cost and benefit. In the absence of Government cost estimates the Eveleigh Bridge Alliance will focus on the benefits that would come from such a connection. This includes for existing trips, new trips that would be made if the bridge existed and the trips that would come from the increase in workers and residents that are planned around the Eveleigh site.
Above we have tried to make the GIPA documents accessible by grouping similar reports in the release together. If you would prefer to look at the GIPA documents as received by Eveleigh Bridge Alliance you can see the full set here and the GIPA 26T-0783 decision document here.
