The amount of money funnelled into NSW government coffers from fees charged to train passengers passing through station gates at Sydney Airport has surged by 27 per cent over the past year to almost $69 million.
And in further evidence of the staggering growth on the rail line to Australia's busiest airport, the latest accounts for the private operator reveal total patronage across its four stations – including Green Square and Mascot – surged by almost 22 per cent to 18 million people in the year to June.
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Sydney's most expensive train track
Train passengers are spending $17 to travel between Sydney Airport and the CBD, lining state government coffers by more than $1 million a week.
The growth resulted in Airport Link Company paying the government $68.6 million in a "train service fee" this year, up from $54 million in 2014-15, and $27.2 million in 2013-14.
The increase in travellers using Sydney Airport, combined with road congestion encouraging more people to catch trains, mean the government is set to reap further windfalls in the coming years from the station access fees paid by passengers.
A one-way trip to or from the airport from the CBD costs an adult passenger $16.78 when using an Opal card during peak hours, making it the most expensive stretch of rail track for passengers on Sydney's rail network.
The ticket price comprises a $3.38 train fare and a station access fee of $13.40 for the airport terminals (or $12 for concession-card holders such as pensioners or children).
The journey for those using a single-trip ticket costs $17.40 – or $34.80 return.
Contrary to perceptions that the operator of the stations pockets all the money, the state government is now the major beneficiary of the fees passengers pay when using the Airport Line.
Since a so-called threshold was reached in July 2014, the government has been entitled to 85 per cent of the sales revenue from Airport Link under a revised contract.
Transport for NSW said removing or reducing the access fee would cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars and require negotiations with the Airport Link Company.
"Every dollar received is ploughed straight back into improving services or delivering better infrastructure for customers," it said.
The transport authority also said the station usage fee was capped at $25 a week for Opal cardholders who travelled to the airport more than once a week.
"The NSW government has also ensured that under the contract with [Airport Link Company], the weekly Opal cap for the station usage fee cannot cost more than double the single station usage fee, which was previously not the case," it said.
"This is now extra protection for customers which previously did not exist."
A spokeswoman for Sydney Airport said it had long advocated reducing the station access fee to encourage more people – including airport workers, passengers and visitors – to take the train to and from the airport.
In its latest accounts, the Airport Link Company said its own expectations of income growth was based on modelling beyond 2020, and the airport's master plan "which envisaged total passenger growth levels exceeding 71 million passengers by 2033".
With roads to the airport congested at peak hours, the government has also been urging people to catch the train instead of driving.
The option for passengers to take a bus is limited because the 400 service between Bondi Junction and Burwood remains the only one that stops at the domestic and international terminals.
The use of the Airport Line will be further fuelled in the coming years from people moving into the large apartment towers under construction around stations at Green Square and Mascot.
Unlike the airport, the access fees at those two stations in Sydney's south have been subsidised since a decision in 2011 by the then Keneally government.
Patronage on the line to the airport has been among the fastest growing on Sydney's train network.
The possibility of one day separating the Airport Line from the suburban network, and running a metro-style shuttle, emerged in an options paper released in September by the state and federal governments.
The paper found that running metro trains between Central Station and Revesby via Sydney Airport could allow an extra 12 trains an hour from the outer south-west to operate on the congested City Circle Line.
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