The construction of Woollahra station - on Sydney's Eastern Suburbs line - didn't happen when the route was built in the 1970s due to community opposition.Â
But the NSW government wants trains to stop there in order to support 10,000 new homes and rebalance housing construction, which has predominantly occurred in the city's west in recent years, to areas with existing infrastructure.
"For too long, young people and families in NSW have been forced to choose between moving away from the Sydney CBD or not being able to afford a home at all," Premier Chris Minns said on Sunday.
A station at Woollahra would give commuters a direct train to the CBD in eight minutes.
Woollahra has been assessed as the most feasible area to build new housing near the city, but consistently lags on new home approvals.
Its population has declined by 11 per cent in the past five decades, while Greater Sydney has grown by 74 per cent, the government says.
Social housing agency Homes NSW does not have any landholdings around the station and has not been investigating providing social and affordable housing in the area, Housing Minister Rose Jackson told a budget estimates hearing on Friday.
But rezoning around Woollahra and nearby Edgecliff station would include "a dedicated portion of affordable housing", she said on Sunday.
It will likely come from developers who can access higher floorspace ratios and building heights in exchange for designated affordable housing.
The last heavy rail stations opened between Glenfield and Leppington in Sydney's southwest in 2015 as housing construction in the area increased.
New construction has more recently focused on automated Metro services, which now run between Tallawong in the city's northwest and Sydenham, and eventually on to Bankstown in the southwest.
The ongoing Metro West project from the CBD to Parramatta is several years away, but a push to allow for 25,000 homes near a potential station at Rosehill failed when the owners of the suburb's racecourse opted not to sell the site in May.
