Light rail

All over Sydney, roads are increasingly congested; in the City Centre, drivers often face long delays. We’ve been working with the State Government to improve conditions, but many are band aid solutions. The only real solution is better public transport, including light rail in central Sydney.

Transport in inner Sydney once revolved around trams, which criss-crossed the city, taking people to the east, north and south. Tram travel peaked in the 1930s, when about 1,600 cars ran the rails at any one time. Everyone travelled by tram. Since then, Sydney’s population has exploded and so has the number of cars, buses, taxis, motorcycles and scooters on the road. Now, severe traffic congestion costs us all time and money.

Extension of light rail between Central Station and Circular Quay would form a high-capacity link through the city’s heart. It would replace hundreds of slow and inefficient buses, and reliably move up to 9000 people every hour.

George Street could then reclaim its position as Sydney’s premier street, with some blocks closed to traffic between Bathurst and Hunter Streets. The shops, offices, apartments, cafes, bars, clubs, theatres, hotels and churches along the strip could throw open their doors to a boulevard, not a bottleneck.

The City is committed to working in partnership with the State Government. We’ve already put aside $180 million to spend on widened footpaths, new drainage, street lighting and signs, landscaping and traffic management work to accompany light rail on George Street.

Throughout the City and beyond, support for light rail continues to grow. The NSW Government has begun construction of the Dulwich Hill light rail extension, which will be up and running by 2014. The Sydney Light Rail Strategic Plan has also identified corridors for possible extension of light rail to Barangaroo, and to the University of NSW via Centennial Park and Moore Park, Royal Randwick Racecourse, Randwick TAFE, Fox Studios, Sydney Cricket Ground, NIDA and the Sydney Football Stadium.

Towards 2030, we are 100% committed to working with the NSW Government to deliver light rail and: