CBD & South East Light Rail

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https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rende ... =editorial

The light rail is a mess. It’s time to cut our losses
MIRANDA DEVINE


IT was bad enough that Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s dumb idea of a tram down George Street was embraced by a government with more cash than common sense.

But to stuff up the execution just adds insult to injury for long-suffering Sydneysiders.

Plagued by delays and cost overruns, now Barry O’Farrell’s $1.6 billion white elephant is heading to the NSW Supreme Court, and there is no end in sight for the poor business owners and residents along its route.

Spanish subcontractor Acciona reportedly is demanding an extra $1.2 billion on top of the $500 million they’ve already extracted from the Berejiklian government for what may end up the world’s most expensive light-rail line stretching 12km from Circular Quay to Kensington and Randwick.

The subcontractors are reportedly now on a go-slow, and despite the Premier’s protestations that she won’t be “held to ransom”, the longer the ill-fated project staggers on, the worse her election prospects.

And what do we get for all the pain? The city split in two, our longest street impassable for four years and forever alienated from cars, when it used to take 25 per cent of the traffic in the CBD.

The light rail will run on a route that was perfectly well serviced by buses, which at least are flexible and can be put away when not in use

And a lot of commuters in Randwick and Kingsford, who used to be able to catch one bus to Central, will have to get out of a tram and onto a bus or a train to complete their journey, anyway.

But the biggest losers are the thousands of small business owners along the route from Surry Hills to Randwick.

Angela Vithoulkas says the light rail has been a “horror story” for over three four years. Her cafe on George and King Streets was once on one of the busiest intersections in Sydney. As many as 50,000 people an hour used to walk past Café Vivo during peak hour, and you only need a percentage to drop in for a coffee to make those pre-dawn openings worthwhile.

On Anzac Day she’d sell 6000 sandwiches. But since George Street has been reduced to a construction zone, she’s lost 45 per cent of her business.

“I have gone from being one of the most awarded cafes in Sydney to a joke.”

The Sydney City Councillor was promised it would take just six to nine months for her “zone” to be built and after that the construction would move on to the next zone and she could continue as normal. But the construction never moved from outside her front door.

“I’ve been barricaded on a corner where you cannot see my cafe unless you fall over it. I have no foot traffic or passers-by and I’m vandalised on a regular basis because it’s all dark and quiet.”

For other small businesspeople she knows along the tram route, hairdressers, cafe and convenience store owners, she says it’s been even worse. Some have lost 90 per cent of their business, lost their homes, and plunged into depression.
George Street cafe owner Angela Vithoulkas says her takings have been affected by light rail work. (Pic: Danny Aarons)

“They’re ashamed and embarrassed,” she said. “They feel they’ve let down their families. I know people who have tried to commit suicide. They never thought they would be abandoned by the government in this way. They never thought it would get this bad … The extent of the depression among these small business owners is scary.”

It was a stupid idea in the first place. Sydney got rid of trams 70 years ago to ease traffic congestion. Unlike Melbourne, our beautiful streets are just too narrow.

The fantasy of George Street as a bustling pedestrian boulevard is the sort of dehumanising central planning the Soviets would applaud.

And why would anyone listen to any brainwave from Clover Moore, the architect of the other single biggest source of traffic congestion in the city — empty, over engineered bike lanes, which no self-respecting commuter-cyclist uses.

This was all predicted. The NSW Auditor-General two years ago issued a damning forecast of a half billion dollar blowout in construction costs to $2.1 billion and a further $1 billion blowout in operating costs over the next ­­­15 years. All that and more is coming to pass.

Furthermore, in 2015, I wrote about leaked traffic modelling by the former Roads and Traffic Authority which found that trams in the Sydney CBD would add considerably to traffic congestion.

Back in 1908-1909, the Royal Commission for the Improvement of the City of Sydney and its Suburbs already knew this fact, and warned “tramways cause congestion,” and recommended building a train network instead.

Forty years later, with Sydney’s traffic still snarled, three British transport experts were commissioned to find a solution.

“To improve the general amenities of the city of Sydney, the tramcars should be replaced by buses,” said their report.

And so they were. Until some genius decided not to learn the lessons of history.

We’d be better off biting the bullet now rather than waiting another 70 years, cutting our losses, paving over the whole mess, replanting the trees, and giving George Street back to cars and buses. Better than staggering on for decades pretending this is a good piece of infrastructure.

[Tonymercury]

These were the same trams that were carrying more passengers than the delayed motor vehicles?

The perils of using your own archives as research material.

[tonyp]

Miranda has so many wrong things in that piece that it's hard to pick the right bits. I don't think there are any.

[Linto63]

Miranda Devine is the Telegraph's equivalent to Andrew Bolt, just spews our right wing bile with little or no research.

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Andrew Bolt is also The Telegraph.

[swtt]

Wow - is that for real? End 2020?!?!

https://www.9news.com.au/national/2018/ ... government

[boronia]

And 12 months to test trams and train drivers???

[Frosty]

Would Luke Foley & Labour be crazy enough to just not finish the project if it’s going to cost another $1.2B if this issue isn’t dealt with by the 2019 state election.

The Miranda Devine article is simply bizzare have George St return to cars and buses so basically the pollution & traffic snarl. She could of been a bit more smart and said just make George St a dedicated busway at least.

[tonyp]

The Miranda Devine article is simply bizzare have George St return to cars and buses so basically the pollution & traffic snarl. She could of been a bit more smart and said just make George St a dedicated busway at least.

It was and would be a stationary busway.

[Swift]

The Miranda Devine article is simply bizzare have George St return to cars and buses so basically the pollution & traffic snarl. She could of been a bit more smart and said just make George St a dedicated busway at least.

It was and would be a stationary busway.

That's where I just stopped reading on. For a long time she has held a derogatory view of trams. Nothing soaks throngs and removes them like trams.

[GazzaOak]

She shouldn't have talked at all....

[Linto63]

Andrew Bolt is also The Telegraph.

Bolt is a Herald Sun (Melbourne) ''journalist''. Presumably his column is syndicated to the other News Limited tabloids. But much like Devine's column wouldn't place any trust in it.

[crimsontide]

Just another case of Miranda failing to do research.
How is removing a Conga line of Buses, interspersed with the odd Car or Taxi a bad thing?
The Government has botched the project from the get go, but that doesn't mean it should be abandoned.

[Frosty]

Though one thing George St had the status quo remained traffic would of gotten worse particularly due to explosion in ride sharing services like Uber.I read elsewhere on the internet that Sydney should of gone for trackless trams though trackless trams are double-articulated buses essentially.

[tonyp]

trackless trams are double-articulated buses essentially.

.... which have significantly less capacity than trams.

Let's sit back and enjoy watching Brisbane blunder down that path, while elsewhere others (like Ottawa, Caen) are converting their "trackless trams" to tramways.

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https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/ ... 17695c6c2e

Sydney light rail: Greenies rush to demand station be named for park, not racecourse
Anna Caldwell, State Political Editor, The Daily Telegraph
April 12, 2018 12:00am


TREE-HUGGING greenies have convinced state government boffins to stop the light rail’s key station outside the gates of Randwick racecourse from being named ‘Royal Randwick’.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal they have flooded the Geographical Names Board with submissions convincing the bureaucrats the name is “too controversial”, with ‘Centennial Park’ more ­appropriate.

The kooky conservationists have claimed as the construction of the light rail resulted in the removal of “big, beautiful and well-loved” trees, Centennial Park should be compensated by having a station named after it.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian inspects progress on the Sydney Light Rail at Randwick on Wednesday with general foreman Tori McGinity. Picture: Justin Lloyd

The state government had pushed for the station name to reflect the geographical destination of Royal Randwick, believing thousands of racegoers and event goers will rely on the stop to attend events all year round.

However, it is understood the Geographical Names Board, which signs off on the naming of major locations, is set to advise the government that ‘Royal Randwick’ won’t be supported and it should propose another alternative or agree to Centennial Park.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian refused to be drawn on when it would be completed, with her gov­ernment facing a legal battle with Acciona.
Sydney light rail map show the Randwick spur.

The state government is believed to be aware of the pending decision.

The number of submissions received by the Geographical Names Board over the project is one of the largest it has ever experienced, including nearly 2000 sig­natures alone in the Australian Turf Club’s 40-page submission backing ‘Royal Randwick’.

Randwick Greens councillor Murray Matson said many “big, beautiful and well-loved trees” had been removed in construction of the light rail.

Sydney's light-rail project in disarray

“We believed the loss of the trees should have been commemorated with an ­appropriate name,” Mr Matson said.

“We were blindsided by that. Many residents were very bitter.”

He said the rail stop should advertise a park ­instead of a racecourse, despite it being right outside the track.

A news flash on channel 7 just said that the Royal Randwick name would be retained irrespective of the advice received.

[Swift]

“We were blindsided by that. Many residents were very bitter.”

I'm sure the removal of a few useless trees wouldn't make much difference.

[mandonov]

trackless trams are double-articulated buses essentially.

.... which have significantly less capacity than trams.

Let's sit back and enjoy watching Brisbane blunder down that path, while elsewhere others (like Ottawa, Caen) are converting their "trackless trams" to tramways.

Off topic, but I think it's good that Brisbane is going for the cheaper bus network reshuffle (metro in branding only) while focusing on cross river rail. Moving to a trunk and feeder network will do wonders for their busy congestion. I doubt it will be any more high tech than longer buses on existing infrastructure.

[Swift]

It seems a bit odd that Brisbane has stuck to rejigging bus networks while the Gold Coast has a well liked and successful new light rail system.

[mandonov]

It's prudent to do the former prior to attempting the latter.

[Tonymercury]

Brisbane has been doing the former since 1997 - perhaps someone might be able to find a way to move on?

[tonyp]

Brisbane has been doing the former dance 1997 - perhaps someone might be able to find a way to move on?

I would hope that they will learn some lessons from Gold Coast. To think that BRT was considered as an option for Gold Coast. That would have turned into a bit of an embarrassment during the games. Anyway, let Brisbane City Council stew in its own juice. I can't understand why the state government hasn't wrestled control of bus planning policy away from them.

[tonyp]

In court today, plus the Labor Party speaks:

http://www.news.com.au/technology/innov ... 1dda999f9f

At last, wider attention is being focussed on the enormity of the mistake made back in the 1950s.

By the Labor Party.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/innov ... e7b6689dcf

Tony P

[Swift]

It won't be long before Brisbane emulates Sydney and puts in a light rail somewhere, then a metro, to keep up with the Jones's, if nothing else.

[Tonymercury]

It won't be long before Brisbane emulates Sydney and puts in a light rail somewhere, then a metro, to keep up with the Jones's,

I thought keeping up with the Joness in Brisbane meant closing tramways.