west of Rouse Hill Town Centre. The NWRL was to connect with the Epping to Chatswood Rail Link through a direct tunnel between Epping and Franklin Road stations, although an original proposal connected with the existing Northern line north of Cheltenham. The direct route was to use the stub tunnels originally built for the deferred Parramatta Rail Link between Parramatta and Epping. New stub tunnels for the Parramatta Rail Link were to be constructed so that if the Parramatta line were completed, trains from Parramatta would have also been able to link into the Epping-Chatswood Line. It was proposed that the NWRL would offer an off peak rail service of four trains per hour, with six to eight trains per hour in peak periods and was expected to carry six to eight million passengers per year. In 2008, the North West rail line was superseded by the now-cancelled North West Metro (see below). In 2010, the NWRL was resurrected as part of a new Metropolitan Transport Plan (see below). In May 2011, the new Coalition Government released the proposed plan for comment and drilling commenced on 7 September 2011. South West Rail Link The South West Rail Link was announced as part of the Metropolitan Rail Expansion Program to cater to the "South West Growth Centre". It was to consist of a 12-kilometre, twin-track railway running from Leppington and Edmondson Park to connect with the South line at Glenfield. The project also included a train stabling facility to the west of the new Leppington station, and a redesigned and expanded Glenfield station with flyovers to connect with the East Hills line. On 31 October 2008, the Premier revealed that the South West Rail Link was to be 'indefinitely shelved' due to budgetary constraints, and only an upgrade of the Glenfield Station car park was to proceed. On 14 November 2009, the then-New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees announced that construction of stage two of the South West Rail Link would begin in mid-2010, with completion scheduled for 2016. CBD Rail link The third component to the MREP was the CBD Rail link, a new underground railway line starting at Redfern station, travelling under the Central Business District and under Sydney Harbour, through the Northern Sydney suburbs and ending at the existing Chatswood railway station. The six kilometre cross-tunnel was slated to cost $5 billion and was to include new or