Light Rail in Sydney

The Sydney light rail network (or Sydney Light Rail) is a light rail system serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The network currently consists of three passenger routes, the L1 Dulwich Hill, L2 Randwick and L3 Kingsford lines. The network comprises 42 stops and a system length of , making it the second largest light rail network in Australia behind the Yarra Trams network in Melbourne, Victoria.

The network is managed by Transport for NSW, with day-to-day operation contracted to Transdev. In 2021, 14.1 million passenger journeys were made on the network.

History

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Sydney developed an extensive tram network, which grew to be the second largest in the Southern Hemisphere and second largest in the Commonwealth after London. The increasing rate of private car ownership, perception that trams contributed to traffic congestion and the general rundown conditions of the network due to the lack of funding after World War II led to the progressive replacement of tram services with buses, with the final section of the tram network closing on 25 February 1961.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the inner city areas of Darling Harbour and Pyrmont were the subject of an urban renewal program. In 1988 the Sydney Monorail opened, connecting Darling Harbour to the central business district. With poor integration between the monorail and other transport modes, and the increasing redevelopment of the Pyrmont peninsula – including the establishment of Sydney's first legal casino – it was decided to convert a disused section of the Metropolitan Goods railway line into a light rail line. A section of track between Pyrmont and Haymarket was upgraded and a new on-street section was built to link the line to Central railway station. The line was set up as a public-private partnership. It opened in August 1997, running between Central station and Wentworth Park, Pyrmont.

The private owner soon made proposals for a western extension continuing along the disused goods line, plus a new line through the central business district from Central to Circular Quay. The western extension opened in 2000, terminating at Lilyfield, but the company was unsuccessful in its attempts to develop a CBD line, which saw development of light rail stagnate for the remainder of the decade.

By contrast, the 2010s have seen major expansion and reform of light rail in Sydney including the announcement and delivery of multiple new infrastructure projects, integration of ticketing with the city's other transport modes, the introduction of new trams and the transfer of the network to full public ownership. The extensions announced during the decade total almost . If all projects are completed, the network would expand in size from at the start of the decade to approximately .

Ownership and operation

Public-private partnership

In March 1994, the Sydney Light Rail Company (SLRC) was formed. SLRC was awarded a 30-year concession to operate the light rail system until February 2028 when ownership would pass to the New South Wales Government. The contract gave the company significant control over the commercial arrangements relating to future extensions or interconnecting lines. Operation of the line was contracted to TNT Transit Systems, which also owned the Sydney Monorail.

The SLRC purchased TNT Transit Systems in August 1998 as part of a joint venture with CGEA Transport. This resulted in CGEA Transport taking over the light rail operating contract. CGEA Transport and its successors have operated the inner city light rail network ever since.

In early 2001, Connex (renamed from CGEA Transport in 1999) sold its share of the monorail to the SLRC, bringing the monorail and light rail under unified ownership and leading to the formation of Metro Transport Sydney.

The New South Wales Government purchased Metro Transport Sydney in March 2012, and the company was placed under the control of Transport for NSW. The purchase removed the contractual restrictions on expanding the light rail network and allowed the government to dismantle the monorail, assisting its plans to redevelop the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Government ownership

From 1 July 2013, the Metro Light Rail brand was phased out as part of a broader rebranding and reorganisation of public transport services in New South Wales. The process of shutting down Metro Transport Sydney and transferring assets to Transport for NSW was completed in September 2014.

Following the announcement of the CBD and South East Light Rail, the government decided to group the contract covering construction of the new line with the operation and maintenance both lines of the inner city network. In December 2014, Transport for NSW awarded the contract to the ALTRAC Light Rail consortium. This sees Transdev Sydney, the operator under the previous contract, continue to operate and maintain the network as part of the consortium.Delivering an integrated light rail system: ALTRAC takes over operation of inner west light rail
Transport for NSW 2 July 2015 The operating contract commenced on 1 July 2015 and runs until 2034.

After taking control of the Inner West Light Rail and announcing the CBD and South East Light Rail, the government also moved to establish a separate network centred around the Western Sydney suburb of Parramatta. Transdev will also operate the Parramatta network as part of the Great River City Light Rail consortium. This contract runs for eight years from construction completion, with a possible extension of up to an additional ten years.

Operations

Network

Sydney's light rail network consists of:
*Inner West Light Rail – serviced by L1 Dulwich Hill Line
*CBD and South East Light Rail – serviced by L2 Randwick Line and L3 Kingsford Line
* Parramatta Light Rail (under construction, stage 1 to open 2023)

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L1 Dulwich Hill Line

The L1 Dulwich Hill Line is the network's original passenger route, first commenced in August 1997. It operates along the Inner West Light Rail between Central station and Dulwich Hill, stopping at 23 stops along the route. It connects Sydney's Inner West with the Pyrmont peninsula, Darling Harbour and at the southern end of the central business district.

Majority of the Inner West Light Rail line is along the alignment of a former freight railway line, with a short on-street section at the city end. The line opened between Central railway station in the city and Wentworth Park, Pyrmont in August 1997, then extended west to Lilyfield in August 2000, and then south-west to Dulwich Hill in March 2014.

From late October 2021 to February 2022, services were replaced by buses after major cracks were found in all 12 Urbos 3 trams serving the line. Limited service was then restored with borrowed Citadis trams from the CBD and South East Light Rail.

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L2 Randwick & L3 Kingsford Lines

The L2 Randwick Line and L3 Kingsford Line are Sydney's newest passenger routes on the Sydney light rail network. L2 Randwick Line services commenced on 14 December 2019, while L3 Kingsford Line services commenced operations on 3 April 2020.Sydney’s new light rail is now open from Circular Quay to Kingsford
Transport for NSW 3 April 2020 They operate on the CBD and South East Light Rail, between Circular Quay at the northern end of the central business district to Central station at the southern end, then continuing to the south-eastern suburbs.

CBD and South East Light Rail was built to reduce bus congestion in the CBD and provides higher capacity public transport to the Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Cricket Ground, Randwick Racecourse and the University of New South Wales, which were previously served only by buses. In contrast to the Inner West Light Rail, the line is mostly on-street and follows a similar path to routes used by the former tramway network. Major construction began in October 2015.

Under construction

Parramatta lines

Parramatta Light Rail is the name given to two planned lines that converge on the Western Sydney centre of Parramatta.

The first line runs from Carlingford to Westmead via the Parramatta CBD. It includes the conversion of most of the former heavy rail Carlingford line to light rail standards. Construction began in 2018 and is expected to be completed by 2023.

The preferred route for the second line was announced in October 2017. This line branches from the first line at Rydalmere and travels through Ermington, Melrose Park, Wentworth Point and on to the Sydney Olympic Park events precinct.

The lines will have no connection to the Inner West or CBD and South East lines.

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Rolling stock

All services on the Inner West Light Rail were previously operated by a single class of tram. A second class was introduced to operate services on the CBD and South East Light Rail. All vehicles to have operated on the system have been articulated, low floor and bi-directional. The system uses standard gauge track and 750 volt direct current electrification.

Both lines use different specifications on a range of measures including gaps between platforms and carriages, height and width of the actual track, clearances between the track corridor and its surrounds, and distance between the back wheels of the trams. As a result, Urbos 3 trams on the Inner West Light Rail (L1 Dulwich Hill) line are unable to serve on the CBD and South East Light Rail (L2 Randwick and L3 Kingsford) lines However, trams used on the CBD and South East Light Rail (Citadis 305) are able to run on the Inner West Light Rail as the vehicles are narrower. This was to allow the fleet to access the Lilyfield maintenance centre via the Inner West Light Rail. This also allowed Citadis trams to be used for L1 Dulwich Hill services on the Inner West Light Rail from February 2022.

Urbos 3

Inner West Light Rail

Following the 5.6 km extension of the Inner West Light Rail to Dulwich Hill, more rolling stock was needed to support services and run alongside the Variotrams that had been providing services on the line since the first section opened in 1997. A tender for six Urbos 3s was awarded to Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) in August 2012. The first unit arrived in Sydney on 19 December 2013 and entered service on 24 July 2014.First new light rail vehicle on the tracks as customer trips pass 1.5 million
, ''Transport for NSW'', Retrieved 23 July 2014 All were in service by August, allowing the leased Urbos 2s to be returned to Spain.

On 11 October 2013, the Government announced an order for six additional Urbos 3s to replace the Variotrams. All Urbos 3s from the additional order had entered service by the end of June 2015.

The Urbos 3s are approximately 33 metres long and feature two double and two single doors on each side. The seats on the first batch are generally in the transverse configuration – at 90 degrees to the sides of the vehicle. The second batch replace some of the transverse seats with longitudinal seating, providing more standing room. Digital voice announcements and internal dot-matrix displays provide information about the next stop. They have a standard capacity of 206 passengers and a crush capacity of 272. The vehicles are numbered 2112, 2114–2124. 2113 was skipped due to superstition, particularly among the Chinese who travel to the Star casino by light rail, about numbers ending in 13.

On 28 October 2021, service was suspended on the Inner West Light Rail after cracking in welds was discovered in some of the Urbos 3 vehicles during routine inspections. On 2 November, it was revealed that cracks had been found in the entire Urbos 3 fleet of 12 vehicles. On 5 November, it was announced the line would be closed for up to 18 months to allow the fleet to be withdrawn for repairs. These cracks were discovered to be "more significant than first thought". The government announced that there was a "design flaw" in the vehicles and they would be consulting other operators.

Parramatta Light Rail

Stage 1 of the Parramatta Light Rail will be operated by a fleet of thirteen Urbos 3 vehicles. Each tram will be 45 metres long and consist of 7-modules. These vehicles will support wire-free operation using batteries, which will be utilised on the on-street sections of the line around Parramatta and Westmead.

Citadis 305

As part of the winning consortium to build and operate the CBD and South East Light Rail, Alstom supplied sixty Citadis 305 trams. Each vehicle consists of five sections, and they are coupled together to operate in pairs of two. Original plans for the line intended for the trams to be approximately 45 metres long and operate as single units. Wire-free operation in a section of George Street between Bathurst Street and Circular Quay was to be achieved via battery storage. In December 2014, it was announced that Alstom's proprietary