The mystery Waterloo resident who has been distributing leaflets proposing a rail station says he did so to encourage debate about the number of stations in the area.
Suspicions had been raised about who was behind the sophisticated flyers, which appeared recently through Waterloo and Alexandria, with private property developers and government agency UrbanGrowth NSW set to benefit if a new rail station was built in the area.
The government faces an imminent choice about where it wants to run a new metro line between Central and Sydenham, after having nominated Waterloo or Sydney University as the route options.
But Danny Carroll, the resident who has been distributing the anonymous flyers, said there should be "four or five" new stops built along the six kilometre inner-city stretch.
"I have no connection with UrbanGrowth," said Mr Carroll, a long-term resident of the inner city.
"My activism has been a personal response to try and engage my local community to seize a historic transport opportunity – getting the metro line routed through Waterloo," he said.
Mr Carroll said he started his campaign because the area was facing a "perfect transport storm".
Thousands more apartments were planned for the Ashmore Estate area at Alexandria, the development projects around Green Square were not yet half finished, and there would be spill-over traffic effects from the nearby WestConnex interchange.
"As a private resident of the Green Square area, I can tell you that the inner-city residents I've spoken to overwhelmingly say they're sick of an urban-growth agenda that's got no real mass-transport solutions," Mr Carroll said.
Some other advocates for the area are in favour of the Sydney University route. Lord Mayor Clover Moore favours sending the train line via Sydney University, but adding at least one station to the existing airport rail line that travels under Waterloo between Green Square and Central.
It is understood that Planning Minister Rob Stokes is pushing for the Waterloo option, but some Transport for NSW officials are backing the Sydney University option.
The Sydney University option would have a higher guaranteed rate of patronage than Waterloo, though UrbanGrowth NSW would use the Waterloo station as a trigger for the redevelopment of housing commission properties in the area.
