Light rail: George Street gets green light
The City’s support of a George Street route as part an extended light rail system has been given a green light with its inclusion in a pre-construction study for the $500 million project.
The route now being assessed by the State Government runs from Dulwich Hill along a disused freight line to the present terminus at Lilyfield. At Haymarket it extends along the CBD fringe, east of Darling Harbour, to the Barangaroo development site before looping back to Circular Quay and then to Central Station via George Street.
A Premier’s Department media release says the George Street section was added “after consultation with the City of Sydney”. The release included quotes from both Premier Kristina Keneally and Lord Mayor Clover Moore, underlining a new level of co-operation with ‘girls on top’ after years of conflict over transport policy between the City and the State.
“We always said work would begin immediately on our Transport Vision – and it will go to ‘market’ as soon as possible – and that is what we have done,” Ms Keneally said.
“Just over one month after releasing the details we are forging ahead with this priority State infrastructure.”
Ms Moore continued the upbeat script: “It will secure Sydney’s status as a global centre of business, retailing, tourism and the arts.”
“The CBD light rail extensions will make central Sydney more inviting for the 600,000 people walking around it every day, by making it easy to get around by public transport, removing long queues of buses, reducing vehicle congestion and easing pollution,” she said.
Gavin Gatenby from the Ecotransit group supports the George Street leg of the route.
“The Barangaroo-only route would not meet the potential for patronage or for distribution of people around the CBD,” he said.
The George Street loop would also interchange with heavy rail lines at Town Hall, linking the Inner West with the Eastern suburbs and the North Shore.
And residents of Leichhardt and Balmain would have a fast link to the Bankstown line via Dulwich Hill, currently a difficult trip on public transport.
The government had been “violently opposed” to extending light rail until now, a stance Mr Gatenby blames on the dominance of the RTA and its roads bias within the public service.
But when EcoTransit recently met Les Wielinga, Director-General of the Department of Transport, he said Mr Wielinga had been very friendly, co-operative and well disposed to light rail. Considering Mr Wielinga’s recent history heading the cancelled CBD Metro and before that the RTA, Mr Gatenby sees this as a sign of a real attitude shift.
But aspects of the government’s opposition to light-rail remain, with the existing light rail line being excluded from the new MyZone fare integration scheme. Already, concession fares available on government trains, buses and ferries as well as private buses are not available on the light rail.
Mr Gatenby said this meant family excursion tickets designed to give families affordable transport to major attractions were not available on the light rail, which was illogical as the route passed several such attractions including the Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour and the Fish Markets.
He said Mr Wielinga indicated he was looking at this anomaly and would be discussing it with Sydney Metro, operators of the light rail line.
by Michael Gormly
