New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees says rumours that a leopard inhabits bushland on Sydney’s outskirts cannot be dismissed, because the safety of children could be at risk.

The $12 billion North West Metro is not expected to survive in its current form, and four big Rail Clearways projects worth $1 billion, promised by the New South Wales Government but not yet built, are also at risk. It is also possible the Government might defer the $1.37 billion South West Rail Link from Glenfield to Leppington.

Written by Jim Steer, a world-leading transport consultant and executive with Britain’s former Strategic Rail Authority, the Sydney Transport Review report says the planned 38-kilometre Euro-style subway - from Rouse Hill to St James Station - is too long to be viable as a metro, is predicated on a poor business case and will do little to alleviate the CityRail congestion crisis.