On 25 October 2026, Western Sydney International is scheduled to open to passengers. If you live in Campbelltown and want to catch a flight on public transport, your direct option is the new 845 bus. It runs every 30 minutes between 5am and 10pm, seven days a week, via Oran Park, with an advertised journey time of about 66 minutes to the airport. The bus is welcome, and better than nothing. But it is not what this region was promised, writes DR GEORGE GREISS in this opinion piece ahead of the official start of operations at WSI.
In December 2023, as Mayor, I told council that neither the metro from Glenfield nor the north-south line from the airport to Campbelltown-Macarthur had been committed for construction. “Without these connections,” I said, “our community cannot access the new Western Sydney International Airport via public transport.” Bus access has since been introduced, but on opening day Campbelltown will still be waiting for a commitment to build those rail connections.
In June 2024, when Transport for NSW announced this same bus, I told a parliamentary committee it was “inadequate, infrequent and too slow” for the workers who would need it.
Credit where it is due: the push for these lines has been long-running and has crossed party lines. The NSW Government committed to a business case in early 2023. The federal government has committed $1 billion towards preserving corridors for future rail extensions from Bradfield to Leppington and Macarthur. The state and federal governments are also jointly funding a $195 million business case, now under way, into future rail connections in Sydney’s west. Possible stations have been mapped at Oran Park, Narellan, Mount Annan and Macarthur.
That is progress on paper. None of it is a commitment to build.
Meanwhile, the housing is arriving first. The NSW Government has set Campbelltown a target of 10,500 new homes by 2029, about 2,100 a year. Council is doing its part. Average development application determination times fell from 85 days in 2024–25 to 58 days in 2025–26, placing Campbelltown equal second in Greater Sydney and well under the state average of 84 days. Approvals are not what is holding Campbelltown back. Infrastructure is.
I have long supported more homes near stations, but density only works when people can actually use public transport. At the 2016 Census, 66 per cent of Campbelltown residents travelled to work by car, 17 per cent by train and just 1 per cent by bus. The 2021 Census was taken during Sydney’s lockdown, so the next results will be the first real test of whether that has changed.
More homes without the train means more cars on the same roads.
So what should Macarthur ask for now?
A date. A business case is a study, not a decision. It should end in a published construction decision and a timetable.
The corridor, secured. The $1 billion should translate into corridors formally protected and acquired, before development closes off the route.
A better bus in the meantime. Until the train arrives, the 845 is how this community reaches the airport and the jobs around it. It should become the rapid bus that parliamentary committee recommended, with the bus lanes and intersection priority to match.
Macarthur has done more than its share of Sydney’s growth. The airport was meant to bring a new generation of jobs within reach. Right now, they are an hour away by bus. We should hold every level of government to the promise that they won’t stay that way.
*Dr George Greiss was Mayor of Campbelltown from 2022 to 2024 and served 16 years on council. He holds a PhD in urban planning from Western Sydney University and is Director of Greiss Planning, a town planning consultancy working across NSW.
