An Illawarra commuter group has hit back at a report that downplayed the importance of upgrades to the South Coast rail line.
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The Grattan Institute report found that upgrades to transport black spots in western Sydney would benefit more people than upgrading the South Coast line to a one-hour Wollongong to Sydney commute.
The report also claimed that improvements to the line would not see an increase in the number of commuters catching trains.
Illawarra Rail Fail disagreed with that, and claimed the report overlooked the crucial aspect of frequency of rail services.
"A one-hour trip to/from Sydney every 40 minutes (or every two hours on weekends) may not attract more patrons, a service every 15 minutes arguably would," said group spokeswoman Bronwyn Batten.
She also said the report did not take into account the connectivity between express services and local trains.
At present many Illawarra commuters drive to hub stations like Thirroul or Wollongong, rather than spend extra time waiting for a connecting service at their local station.
"The report is a broad-brush review which does not pick up the impact of local issues like these on the decisions of commuters," Ms Batten said.
The group did agree that outer Sydney transport black spots might need attention, but questioned why it had to be an either-or approach.
"As to whether the money is better spent in the outer suburbs of Sydney vs regional lines why does it have to be one or another?" she said.
Ms Batten also suggested the Illawarra could be on the way to creating its very own black spots.
"Right now, in the Illawarra, we are at risk of repeating these very same mistakes if we do not invest in public transport early in the development of areas," she said.
"West Dapto and Calderwood, for example, also risk being public transport black-spots through neglect right from their inception."