Parramatta light rail

[boronia]

Do they have any rolling stock? Is the depot finished?

[gilberations]

Do they have any rolling stock? Is the depot finished?

It’s a fair question, unfortunately as I now live in the US I’m only aware of things I’ve seen online. There may be a delay in the rolling stock as I beleive they were to use CAFs, perhaps that may be changing?

[boronia]

THey have ordered CAFs, which I guess are in production. They won't be compatible mechanically with the existing fleets.

Presumably delivery won't be made until such time as the facilities are available.

[Glen]

Based on my current understanding, the Camellia to Carlingford section looks like it’s ready for rolling stock testing. Is this correct? Or are the wires not up yet? It almost looks like they could open it in 2 stages if they wanted to, Camellia to Carlingford then Camelia to Westmead.
From memory as a guard, most of the passengers who used the carlingford line were traveling between Rydalmere and Carlingford, so it wouldn’t be the worst idea…

Are you sure? I would have thought Clyde used to be the maximum load point.

[gilberations]

Based on my current understanding, the Camellia to Carlingford section looks like it’s ready for rolling stock testing. Is this correct? Or are the wires not up yet? It almost looks like they could open it in 2 stages if they wanted to, Camellia to Carlingford then Camelia to Westmead.
From memory as a guard, most of the passengers who used the carlingford line were traveling between Rydalmere and Carlingford, so it wouldn’t be the worst idea…

Are you sure? I would have thought Clyde used to be the maximum load point.

In peak for sure Clyde was the busiest, but off peak, there was very little end to end travel, most was between Rydalmere and Carlingford

[marcnut1996]

Proposal to name Childrens Hospital Light Rail stop, comments open until 28 Feb.
https://proposals.gnb.nsw.gov.au/curren ... 9bbe2cc72f

[boronia]

https://www.smh.com.au/national/dream-c ... 5a86u.html

[wattsstuart]

Went for a run along there on tuesday - UWS to Dundas looks very done - just shelters and some strectches of OHLE to go - mostly under the road bridges. The cycle path is nice a wide

[tonyp]

Parramatta Light Rail Stage 2 has been approved to proceed. Other major public transport projects yet to commence have been deferred.

[grog]

I don’t think there were any other public transport projects to commence? The deferral seems to talk about Beaches Link and M6 Stage 2.

[tonyp]

I don’t think there were any other public transport projects to commence? The deferral seems to talk about Beaches Link and M6 Stage 2.

The list included rail projects such as metro extensions. See "projects to be reconsidered":



More details:

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/ ... c239523d41

$600m for Parramatta Light Rail stage two to be confirmed in state budget

A “stage 2” plan to extend the Parramatta’s Light Rail to Olympic Park will get $600 million in this month’s budget, with the government pledging to back the “mega project”. See the planned route
Lachlan Leeming
and
James O'Doherty
less than 2 min read
June 1, 2022 - 1:43PM

A plan to extend the Parramatta Light Rail to Olympic Park will get $600 million in this month’s budget, after Premier Dominic Perrottet declared his government will push ahead with Parramatta Light Rail Stage 2.

The $602.4 million commitment, confirmed on Wednesday by the Premier, will pay for preliminary works including an environmental-impact statement.

The figure was first mentioned a since-deleted tweet from Premier Dominic Perrottet’s account.

Mr Perrottet later told reporters he had no knowledge of the figure before later confirming it.

The money has been pledged for the project in the upcoming state budget, with more funding to be committed when it becomes clear how much it will cost to build.

“This is an exciting announcement. It’s funding the first phase of works that has already been committed in the budget,” Treasurer Matt Kean said on Wednesday morning.

Premier Perrottet said the June 21 budget would see a “substantial contribution” towards the project, with funding to go towards the first stage of the development including building a bridge over the Parramatta River.

Transport Minister David Elliott also confirmed there would be a “local component” to the trams on the second stage for after pledging the final business case would consider Aussie-made vehicles on the rail.

“We have as a government committed now to this project, and that will be evident on June 21,” he said.
More Coverage

Infrastructure Minister Rob Stokes said the second stage of the light rail would be the next “mega project” that gets the tick from government, as other major projects like the Beaches Link are put on ice.

“Today as the Premier and Treasurer have indicated, we are selecting one particular mega project which we are determined to deliver for the people of Western Sydney and that‘s Parramatta light rail stage two,” he said.

[Merc1107]

Off-topic: What's the reference there to "rapid bus networks"?

[Linto63]

What's the reference there to "rapid bus networks"?

Explained here, basically higher frequency routes with bus lanes and priority measures much like the B-Line. Much like it does with recommendations from Ipart, the government will cherry pick which recommendations to accept and which to ignore based on its own political needs.

[boronia]

The "trackless tram" pundits are coming out of the woodwork again.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/per ... 5aqav.html

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw ... 5apwf.html

[Fleet Lists]

What's the reference there to "rapid bus networks"?

Explained here, basically higher frequency routes with bus lanes and priority measures much like the B-Line. Much like it does with recommendations from Ipart, the government will cherry pick which recommendations to accept and which to ignore based on its own political needs.

A typical document from the Constance days - most of that will never see the light of day. Especially if there is a change of government.

[Merc1107]

The "trackless tram" pundits are coming out of the woodwork again.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/per ... 5aqav.html

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw ... 5apwf.html

I was expecting "you know who" (aka the Monorail Guy from The Simpsons) to actually have gotten his regular 2¢ worth in the article itself, rather than some of his disciples getting their knickers in a twist down in the comments. How disappointing

[tonyp]

A typical document from the Constance days - most of that will never see the light of day. Especially if there is a change of government.

It comes from both Transport and Planning Departments and is intended to provide a long-term bipartisan framework for transport planning in Sydney that supports the overall urban planning framework. Every state aspires to this, not all succeed thanks to being brought down by politics. Metronet is a similar plan in Perth. The job of the next government is to prioritise and budget for the next stages of the plan, not to throw it out and create a different plan altogether. In NSW it's typically Labor governments that mess up these plans, so the best that the present government can aim for is to get as much signed up and bedded down as possible. Parramatta Stage 2 is probably the project that has had most of the preparation done, so that it can be locked in before the next election. It's also the one least likely to be built by a Labor government due to their entrenched anti-tram attitude. Overall a good, pragmatic choice of project.

[Merc1107]

Metronet is a similar plan in Perth.

Perhaps it could be described as a partisan branding for what are collection of projects, some bipartisan, and some more oriented towards wooing special electorates (i.e. pet projects of "The Minister for Trains Mk2"). I'm not sure what happened to the long-term plans outlined by the previous State Government.

[tonyp]

Perhaps it could be described as a partisan branding for what are collection of projects, some bipartisan, and some more oriented towards wooing special electorates (i.e. pet projects of "The Minister for Trains Mk2"). I'm not sure what happened to the long-term plans outlined by the previous State Government.

I found Metronet to have built on the previous plan rather than being something completely new. I'm wondering though whether the present Labor government there is as good as the earlier ones with regard to PT. Nowadays every time they extend a rail line they extend a motorway alongside it, which isn't the way to encourage PT use! However, overall, Metronet is for the whole of Perth just as the Sydney plan is for the whole of Sydney. Beyond that, yes no doubt individual governments can cherry pick projects from the bipartisan plan in order to favour particular electorates. Not sure how we get away from that!

[gilberations]

Let’s just hope that Stage 2 goes from Rydalmere then down South Street to John St Wharf, and ensure it stops at SOP wharf and they don’t choose they bypass option. The Sandown option makes no sense at all since they’d need to build 2 bridges instead of 1, plus the obvious advantage of not having to change trams for the university, hopefully elevating some of the bus congestion (on board not frequency) along Victoria road.

[gilberations]

Side note, from John St Wharf to the other side of Silverwater Rd, they could save some money by going along the River and avoiding the need for another cutting/bridge. The space under the bridge there is sufficiently wide enough, so long as the ground can take the weight. The apartment buildings right there did have to dig down a fair way to put in the foundations though.

[grog]

I think that ship has sailed according to the current website map.

[gilberations]

It’s a shame, they could have saved a lot of cash by not needing another bridge. But I guess the industrial nature of south street posed its own risks

[Swift]

EIther way, it's just an expensive indulgent white elephant like the CSELR.

[tonyp]

It’s a shame, they could have saved a lot of cash by not needing another bridge. But I guess the industrial nature of south street posed its own risks

They've already built a stub of the line past the depot, so it has already been physically launched.