Light rail
All over Sydney, roads are increasingly congested; in the City Centre, drivers often face gridlock. 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 and the best option for the City is light rail.
Transport in 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, no-one is getting anywhere.
Traffic congestion costs us all time and money. If the light rail service from Lilyfield to Central Station was extended down George Street, it would form a ‘spine’ through the busiest, most congested stretch of the city.
A simple, four-car light rail train could carry up to 8,000 people an hour (with little impact on the environment) and leave plenty of space for pedestrians and cyclists.
George Street could then reclaim its position as Sydney’s premier street, especially if some of it is closed to traffic. The shops, offices, apartments, cafes, bars, clubs, theatres, hotels and churches along the strip throw open their doors to a boulevard, not a bottleneck.
We’ve already put $180 million aside to spend on widened footpaths, new drainage, street lighting and signs, landscaping and traffic management work when the State Government builds light rail down George Street.
Throughout the City and beyond, support for light rail continues to grow. A long-standing community campaign to extend the network to Dulwich Hill has been successful – the extension will be up and running in late 2012. The NSW Government has also announced that it will deliver extensions to the University of Sydney and the University of NSW.
The City teamed up with Randwick Council to lobby for the light rail to extend to the University of NSW, which would also connect the city with four major hospitals, 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:
- ease congestion
- increase pedestrian safety
- cut carbon emissions
- revitalise George Street
- benefit CBD businesses
- create a sustainable Sydney
Sydney 2030: green, global and connected. Go to the strategic directions.
