Light rail in Canberra


The Canberra light rail line serves the city of Canberra, Australia. The initial line links the northern town centre of Gungahlin to the city centre and has 14 stops. Services commenced on 20 April 2019. The 14th stop at Sandford Street in Mitchell commenced operation in September 2021.
An extension from Civic to Commonwealth Park is under construction and is expected to be operational in early 2028. Planning of a further extension from Commonwealth Park to Woden Town Centre will continue while construction of Stage 2A is underway.

History

Background

's master plan for Canberra proposed the construction of a tram network and a heavy rail line. However, excepting for the Canberra station, the city was exclusively served by buses from 1926, when the Canberra City Omnibus Service was introduced, until 2019.
While railways across Canberra, including one to Belconnen, were seriously considered until the mid-1960s, little discussion of a metropolitan tramway occurred until the 1990s. Before 1989, the ACT had been directly administered by the federal government thus any large public infrastructure expenditure in Canberra was subject to national scrutiny.
In the early 1990s, Canberra Land proposed an line from Canberra Racecourse via Northbourne Avenue to Civic with Melbourne tram B2089 displayed in February 1992.
A light rail connection for Gungahlin was proposed as far back as 1992. An eight-year-old Canberran proposed the idea of a tram line to the newly announced, but undeveloped town centre of Gungahlin in April 1992. In October 1992 a syndicate of private land developers MBA Land and Consolidated Builders incorporated rail into an urban village plan. The Gungahlin proposal followed a 1991 Murdoch University report, Towards a More Sustainable Canberra, which suggested the city was too car-oriented and should implement a light rail system along the Y-Plan. In 1993 a report by Maunsell-Denis Johnston and Associates found that a dedicated inter-town busway was a more viable transport option for Canberra than light rail.
In 1994, the ACT Government commissioned a study into light rail, based on the findings of an independent report that light rail would be viable in Canberra by 1998. In its detailed report consultants Booz Allen Hamilton recommended a route from Belconnen to Barton via the City and Kings Avenue Bridge be operating by 1998; Woden to Barton by 2000; Tuggeranong to Woden by 2002 and Gungahlin to City by 2004. Routes to Canberra Airport and Queanbeyan received a lower priority. By January 1995 the then ACT Liberal Opposition Leader, Kate Carnell, announced her party's opposition to the light rail proposal citing "suspect" patronage figures and questioned the report's projected population for Canberra-Queanbeyan of 474,000 by 2016. Projections in 2017 for the Canberra-Queanbeyan population, forecast the metropolitan area reaching 474,000 between 2020 and 2023, four to seven years later than the 1995 projections. In 1995, the ACT Liberal Party came to power and plans for a light rail system in Canberra were dropped.
In February 1998, the ACT Government announced its support for the Federation Line, a proposed line from the National Museum of Australia via Civic to the Australian War Memorial. The line was proposed to use heritage trams.
In September 2001, to try to garner support for the project, Melbourne tram W249 and Sydney tram R2001 were placed on display outside the Australian War Memorial, the latter operating on a section of track and powered by a diesel generator. In a further display in September 2003, W249 operated on an section of track on Parkes Way.
An April 2012 report by URS consultants scored kerbside light rail +6, based on its benefits and harms. Bus rapid transit scored +5, and median light rail scored zero.
August 2012 ACT Government submission to Infrastructure Australia estimated that bus rapid transit had roughly twice the benefit-cost ratio of light rail transit under a wide range of assumptions.
The construction of Stage 1 of the light rail line was part of a deal struck between ACT Labor and the ACT Greens following the 2012 ACT election, at which Labor required the Greens' support to form government. Both parties had campaigned at the election in support of light rail.
The opposition Canberra Liberals opposed the project. In April 2015, the party announced it would cancel any contracts for the light rail if it won the 2016 ACT election. The light rail project was the major issue of the campaign. The Labor government was returned at the election, with the party claiming the result as an endorsement of the project.

Development

In the 2013/14 ACT budget, $5 million was allocated for early design work. In September 2014, the business case was approved by the government. The project, known as Capital Metro during planning, was developed by the government agency Capital Metro Agency.
The line was to be delivered under a public-private partnership. Expressions of interest were received from the following consortia:
In March 2015, the government announced that ACTivate and Canberra Metro had been selected to move on to the Request for Proposal stage of the procurement process. The bidders submitted their final proposals for the Gungahlin to the city route on 4 September and had an additional four weeks to submit their proposals for a potential expansion of the project, from the city to Russell. The Canberra Metro consortium was announced as the preferred tenderer in February 2016 and the contract was finalised in May. Under the contract, Canberra Metro will operate and maintain the line for 20 years, after which ownership will pass to the ACT Government.
Design and construction costs were budgeted at $707 million. The Federal Government contributed $67 million to the project. Commencement of construction was marked by a sod-turning in the northern suburb of Mitchell at the site of the depot on 12 July 2016. Major construction of the route itself began towards the end of the year.
The CMA was amalgamated into a new government directorate, the Transport Canberra & City Services, on 1 July 2016, resulting in the responsibility for the project being transferred to the TCCS.
Testing of the line began in June 2018. A section in Gungahlin was electrified and one of the trams made trial runs. The last tram arrived in Canberra in September 2018 and it was hoped to have the project completed by the end of 2018. The light rail eventually opened on 20 April 2019, with the final construction cost for Stage 1 being $675 million, some $32 million under the original budget.

Route

The line has its northern terminus at Hibberson Street in Gungahlin and follows Flemington Road, the Federal Highway and Northbourne Avenue to the southern terminus between Alinga and Rudd Streets in the City Centre. It is double track for its full length. Emergency crossovers are located to the south of the Dickson Interchange stop, as well as the north of the Nullarbor Avenue stop. There are 14 stops. The main bus interchanges are located at Gungahlin Place, Dickson Interchange and Alinga Street.

Stops

StopSuburbPlatform layoutCoordinates
Gungahlin PlaceGungahlinDual
Manning Clark NorthGungahlinIsland
Mapleton AvenueFranklin / HarrisonIsland
Nullarbor AvenueFranklin / HarrisonIsland
Well Station DriveMitchellIsland
Sandford StreetMitchellIsland
EPIC and RacecourseLynehamSide
Phillip AvenueLyneham / WatsonIsland
Swinden StreetLyneham / DownerIsland
Dickson InterchangeLyneham / DicksonSide
Macarthur AvenueLyneham / DicksonSide
Ipima StreetTurner / BraddonSide
Elouera StreetTurner / BraddonSide
Alinga StreetCivicSide

The Sandford Street light rail stop commenced construction in 2020 and opened on 16 September 2021.

Operation

The service is operated by Canberra Metro Operations, in association with Deutsche Bahn Engineering and Consulting, under a 20-year contract. CMET is a joint venture between John Holland and Pacific Partnerships, both of whom are part of the Canberra Metro consortium.
CMET holds the contract to operate the light rail until at least 2036. Formed in 2016, it is a partnership between John Holland and Pacific Partnerships in association with Deutsche Bahn Engineering and Consulting. CMET commenced operations on 20 April 2019 with the completion of the first stage of the project.
CMET is part of the Canberra Metro Consortium, acting as the operations component of the group, with both its owners also being equity providers. CMET does not contract with the ACT Government, rather it contracts with Canberra Metro PC Pty Limited to provide service on its lines, which then contracts with the Canberra Metro Agency to manage the project and provide services to the city.
The contract specifies the following minimum service levels for hours of operation and service frequency: