Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been accused of abandoning public transport in Sydney following reports she's shelved the Parramatta-Epping rail line.
About $2 billion earmarked for the west Sydney link has been moved into a fund for projects not due to be built for another six years, Fairfax Media reports.
The federal government says it decided to shelve the link, announced by Ms Gillard in 2010, after the NSW government rejected the funding from its next nation-building program.
Greens MP Cate Faehrmann says it's disgraceful the link is again being used as a political football.
"The last time funding was committed to the Parramatta-Epping rail link was just before the last federal election. When will the old parties stop treating the people of western Sydney as electoral fodder?"
She's accused Ms Gillard of dumping the vital infrastructure project - that would benefit millions of people living and working in greater Sydney - in favour of the doomed WestConnex tollway.
The federal government recently committed $2 billion for the motorway, with the state putting in $1.8 billion.
"It's money that could be much better spent on public transport infrastructure instead of going to a privatised motorway that's not even taking the majority of people where they want to go - from one part of western Sydney to another," Ms Faehrmann said.
Comment is being sought from NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian.
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