Crows Nest Station

The Crows Nest Station is an upcoming underground station being built in the Crows Nest residential area in Sydney, Australia. The station is a part of Transport for NSW’s Sydney Metro City and Southwest project, the biggest public transport project in the country.

The Sydney Metro City and Southwest project will extend Sydney Metro Northwest from Chatswood, under Sydney Harbour, through the new Sydney central business district (CBD) stations and beyond to Bankstown.

The proposed underground metro station will boost the public transit options and connectivity for local people and businesses. It will have air-conditioned, driverless trains operating at four-minute frequency in both directions during peak hours.

The project will involve more than 300 workers on site during peak construction. Construction of the new station will begin in January 2021 and is expected to be finished by 2024.

Crows Nest station location

The station is being developed 6km north of Sydney’s CBD on the western edge of the Crows Nest village, between the Pacific Highway and Clarke Road and Oxley Street.

Commuters will be able to access the station via the corner of Clarke Street and Hume Street, and the corner of Pacific Highway and Oxley Street.

Travel time to Chatswood, Barangaroo, and Sydney Metro Martin Place Station will be four, five, and seven minutes respectively.

Crows Nest Station development

Sydney Metro obtained the planning permission for the Crows Nest station in January 2017 and is currently pursuing planning approval for an over station development (OSD) above the station.

It submitted the State Significant Development Application (SSDA) and the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed OSD development to the NSW Department of Planning, Industry, and Environment (DPIE) between November 2018 and February 2019.

Details of the new Crows Nest Station

The new underground metro station in Sydney will be the first stop for metro services from Chatswood to the CBD under the Sydney Metro extension. To be built approximately 25m below ground level, it will offer new metro rail connections to the Crows Nest residential area.

It will have two entrances, one on Pacific Highway between Oxley Street and Hume Street, and another on Clarke Street.

It will be installed with lifts and escalators to the new underground platforms, wayfinding, and Sydney Metro information signage.

Additional infrastructure at the future metro station

The station will have retail space next to the Clarke Street entrance, with potential for future ground-level retail opportunities along the Pacific Highway.

Public works such as footpaths, tree planting, lighting, and street furniture will also be undertaken as part of the project. New lights will be installed to allow pedestrians to safely cross the Pacific Highway on the north side of the Oxley Street intersection.

The station will have new pedestrian crossings on Clarke and Hume Streets, while the Hume Street intersection will be upgraded with cycle crossing and increased pedestrian capacity.

The project will also create new parking spaces on Hume Street, Pacific Highway, Clarke Street, and Oxley Street, as well as new kiss and ride and point-to-point transport bays near the station.

A new bi-directional separated cycle link on Hume Street will be developed from Clarke Street to Nicholson Street.

Crows Nest Station construction

Construction work is taking place at the project location with the site divided by Hume Street into two separate construction zones.

A temporary street-level working platform was created and the station excavation occupies the majority of the construction site.

Works include supporting road header usage and removal of excavated material. More than 365,000t of crushed rock was excavated to reach the final depth of 25m.

Completed works also include the station box and the 3.6km-long twin tunnels between Chatswood and Crows Nest.

Contractors involved

AW Edwards won a contract worth A$370m ($273.2m) for the construction of the Crows Nest station.

The Crows Nest Design Consortium (CNDC) with SMEC as the lead consultant and Woods Bagot, Robert Bird Group, Norman Disney Young (NDY), and Oculus as partners prepared the station design and precinct plan (SDPP).

SMEC is providing design and technical services for the project. CNDC was the service provider for design stages two and three and had completed design stage one for the primary infrastructure of the station.

Systems Connect was contracted to provide line-wide work, including the installation of metro rail tracks, power, communications, signalling systems. A joint venture (JV) comprising Arcadis and Mott MacDonald delivered the preliminary design for the Crows Nest station and four other underground metro stations for the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project.

Ashurst, a multi-national law firm, advised Sydney Metro on the station construction contract.