Transport Networks At Granville, Western Sydney: A Critical Analysis

This area has attracted investors and local industries which facilitates its development. Other elements such as culture, education, entertainment, demographics, and education also have a great impact on the development at Granville (Banister and Thurstain-Goodwin, 2011 p.212). In particular, this paper focuses on transport which includes the trains, bus, and road. Granville railway station is recognized as the main station in the Western and South lines of Sydney.

Granville is a local area located at western Sydney, in New South Wales State of Australia. Granville is situated twenty-two kilometers at the western Sydney and it is divided into two local areas which are the City of Parramatta and Cumberland Council. Granville has developed significantly since 1856 when it became a final stopping point for trains. This area has attracted investors and local industries which facilitates its development. Other elements such as culture, education, entertainment, demographics, and education also have a great impact on the development at Granville (Banister and Thurstain-Goodwin, 2011 p.212). In particular, this paper focuses on transport which includes the trains, bus, and road. Granville railway station is recognized as the main station in the Western and South lines of Sydney. Also, Granville has a recent bus interchange called Transdev NSW which operates through three routes. In addition, Parramatta Road which is a major road in Sydney passes through Granville (Eliasson and Lundberg, 2012 p.33). There are four sources that relate with the transport in Granville that is selected for critical analysis in this paper.

Sources to be reviewed

Book: Gunn, J., 1989. Along parallel lines: A history of the railways of New South Wales. john gunn.

Journal Article: Wotherspoon, G., 2008. Sydney's transport. Sydney Journal, 1(1).

Research Report: Campbell, S. and White, S., 2005. Integrated Resource Planning for Transport: asking better questions. WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, 77.

Source of Statistics: Zeibots, M.E., 2003. Before and after opening of the M4 motorway from Mays Hill to Prospect: Sydney case studies in induced traffic growth.

The first source is a book whose author is Gunn, 1989 and mainly focuses on railway transport at Granville. The main argument in this book is that railways play a significant role in New South Wales history as it facilitates major developments in the region. Gunn, 1989 (10) uses observation as a qualitative research method. The findings depict how the railway enables new settlements that support the increased population and also contributes to the establishment of new industries. The book concludes that transport helps shape the economic and political developments at Granville. The second source is a journal written by Wotherspoon, 2008 (15) mainly argues that Granville’s physical geography impacts the transport network. The journal employs observation as a qualitative research approach to explore the aspects of physical geography such as agricultural areas, vegetation, waterways, and topography at Granville. Findings show that the transport system at Granville is not perfect and the government should be involved immensely to solve the problems that prevail.

Critique

The third source Campbell and White, 2005 outlines a research report which mainly focuses on transport planning methods at and their impacts on transport networks. This report employs an evaluation approach on the investment decisions in relation to transport accessibility at Granville. The author concludes that transport costs at Granville progressively escalate regardless of the technological advances due to poor investment decisions that should be improved. Finally, the fourth source is a statistical source where Zeibots, 2003 (10) draws information from the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Route Assessment (SACTRA). Zeibots, 2003 (5) mainly presents an overview of changes that took place after opening the M4 Motorway in Western Sydney. The author uses the case study as the qualitative approach that explores the changes that have occurred due to transport movements. Zeibots, 2003 (40) concludes that road transport has both positive and negative impacts at Granville.

Significantly, the four authors perceive the transport networks at Granville differently. Therefore, this section compares and contrasts the four sources in the context of arguments, approaches, research methods, interpretations, and overall conclusions. To start with the similarities, the four authors agree that transport impacts the development of the region either economically or politically. The first source and the fourth source shows that both railway and road transport have positive and negative impacts on the society. For instance, the positive impacts are that the railways and roads facilitate prosperity and economic growth at Granville (Camus and Therville, 2015 p. 403). However, the negative impacts include the government failure in handling road and railway policies as the issues of staffing and labor relationships prevail (Woodcock, Edwards, Tonne, Armstrong, Ashiru, Banister, Beevers, Chalabi, Chowdhury, Cohen and Franco, 2009 p.1931). The politicians contribute to endless complexities that relate to road and railway transport.

The four authors argue that the transport networks include complex tasks which require every individual involved to sharpen skills to achieve positive developments. Gunn, 1989 and Wotherspoon, 2008 compare as they employ a qualitative approach. The two authors use observation to explore the association of road and railway transport with elements such as the population growth, agricultural areas, vegetation, and topography at Granville. The authors of the four articles compare in regard to the findings. To start with the first source, it is clear that railway transport facilitates new settlements and also supports the establishment of new industries. The second source focuses on physical topography and the findings show that railway transport facilitates modernization and extension at Granville. The third and fourth sources agree that proper planning methods should be incorporated. Also, the local government should support good investment decisions to eradicate issues that prevail due to the construction of roads and railways (Flyvbjerg, Skamris Holm and Buhl, 2004 p,10). In regard to the conclusion, the four authors agree that the road and railway transport benefits the Granville community. Therefore, proper technological advances should be introduced to help overcome the challenges that prevail (Banister and Berechman, 2011 p.210). Moreover, the physical geography of the region also matters hence the government should join hands to help in eradicating the barriers.

On the other hand, the four sources contrast in various ways. To start with the main arguments, the first source focuses on the history of developments while the second source contrasts as it focuses on the physical geography. The third sources focus on planning methods and investment decision in connection to transport. On the other hand, the fourth source presents the statistics based on SACTRA’s research showing changes that took place since the development of the M4 Motorway at Granville. In regard to approaches, the first and second sources use observation as a qualitative method of conducting research. The third source use evaluation while the fourth source the author uses a case study to conduct research. The interpretations differ across the four sources as the first source focuses on the positive impacts of transport and the second and third sources focuses on the negative impacts. The fourth source outlines both the positive and negative impacts of various forms of transport at Granville. Finally, in regard to conclusions, the four sources contrast as outlined. The first author suggests that railway transport involves labor-intensive practices hence highly skilled workers should be employed to help overcome challenges. The second source suggests that new technologies should be introduced in Granville’s transport network to overcome social and economic implications that prevail. The third author suggests that integrated resource planning should be embraced at Granville to introduce proper improvements that concern transport network. Finally, the fourth author suggests that longer trips should be embraced at Granville to overcome traffic volumes on the road transport.

Conclusion:

To summarize the overall evaluation of this response, it is clear that Granville has greatly developed economically and politically due to the development of road and railway transport. The roads and railways are constructed for all road users such as public and commercial vehicles, private car uses, cyclists, and pedestrians. Based on the third source, proper planning methods should be introduced at Granville to help overcome issues that arise due to road and railway transport. Also, the government should focus on addressing issues facing the physical geography at Granville for smooth transport operations. For instance, proper physical geography may help reduce the incidences of accidents reported by SACTRA. Moreover, adoption of integrated resource planning can help reduce traffic experienced on the roads especially the M4 Motorway at Granville. Also, the transport industry requires highly skilled workers as it involves labor-intensive operations. In addition, new technologies should be embraced in the transport industry at Granville to help address the economic and political complexities that prevail.

 However, areas of further research include the relationship between transport and health of individuals at Granville. The biological and physical theories should be employed to understand the human health issues that may arise due to road and railway transport. Also, issues on global warming should raise concerns in the future as they may result in respiratory diseases due to oil and carbon dioxide emissions by vehicles and trains.

Banister, D. and Berechman, Y., 2011. Transport investment and the promotion of economic growth. Journal of transport geography, 9(3), pp.209-218.

Banister, D. and Thurstain-Goodwin, M., 2011. Quantification of the non-transport benefits resulting from rail investment. Journal of Transport Geography, 19(2), pp.212-223.

Campbell, S. and White, S., 2005. Integrated Resource Planning for Transport: asking better questions. WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, 77.

Camus, T. and Therville, F., 2015. The Sydney North West Rail Link project tunnelling challenge with four double shield TBMs. Geomechanics and Tunnelling, 8(5), pp.402-408.

Eliasson, J. and Lundberg, M., 2012. Do cost–benefit analyses influence transport investment decisions? Experiences from the Swedish Transport Investment Plan 2010–21. Transport reviews, 32(1), pp.29-48.

Flyvbjerg, B., Skamris Holm, M.K. and Buhl, S.L., 2004. What causes cost overrun in transport infrastructure projects?. Transport reviews, 24(1), pp.3-18.

 Gunn, J., 1989. Along parallel lines: A history of the railways of New South Wales. john gunn.

Woodcock, J., Edwards, P., Tonne, C., Armstrong, B.G., Ashiru, O., Banister, D., Beevers, S., Chalabi, Z., Chowdhury, Z., Cohen, A. and Franco, O.H., 2009. Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: urban land transport. The Lancet, 374(9705), pp.1930-1943.

Wotherspoon, G., 2008. Sydney's transport. Sydney Journal, 1(1).

 Zeibots, M.E., 2003. Before and after opening of the M4 motorway from Mays Hill to Prospect: Sydney case studies in induced traffic growth.