Sydney Light rail

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> 'It's pretty extensive': More cracks discovered in Inner West trams $

Sydney's Inner West light rail network will likely be out of service for several weeks at least, with cracks discovered in every single tram that has undergone recent safety inspections.

The Herald revealed last week that cracks were discovered in some of the trams which service the L1 Dulwich Hill line which prompted the service to shut down.

More intensive investigations have discovered cracks in all six trams so far inspected. ...

[ozbob]

[ozbob]

Matt O'Sullivan

Breaking: Sydney's inner west light rail will be 'decommissioned' for 18 months due to major cracks in the wheel arches of all 12 tram sets. The govt says the 18-month decommissioning is the worst-case scenario but it's a dramatic change on previous predicted outage of a month.

[ozbob]

ABC News --> Sydney's inner west light rail decommissioned for up to 18 months, Transport Minister Rob Stokes says

Sydney's inner west light rail service will be decommissioned for up to 18 months, NSW Transport Minister Rob Stokes said this afternoon.

The announcement comes after cracking was identified in all 12 vehicles last month with buses currently replacing the service.

Mr Stokes said it was not known how long it would take to fix the problem.

"Inner west light rail fleet will be decommissioned for up to 18 months while the issues identified are rectified," Mr Stokes said.

"I want to stress this is the worst case scenario." ...

[ozbob]

I hope the Canberra and Newcastle trams don't have the same issue ...

[timh]

Wasn't there an announcement in the last 6 months ish that they were buying more trams for the L1 line? Surely it's not these new trams that are broken but the old ones?

Sent from my SM-G780F using Tapatalk

[ozbob]

SMH --> Sydney's inner west light rail line out of action for up to 18 months $

Sydney's inner west light rail will be decommissioned for up to 18 months due to serious "design flaws" in all 12 tram sets that operate on the line from the city centre to Dulwich Hill.

It is a dramatic escalation since three days ago, when senior Transport bureaucrats estimated that trams on the light rail line would be suspended for at least a month.

Transport Minister Rob Stokes said he was advised by transport officials in a briefing on Friday afternoon that the inner west light rail fleet would now be decommissioned for up to 18 months while the "design flaws" identified in the wheel arches of the trams were rectified.

"I want to stress this is the worst-case scenario," he told reporters.

"It's my expectation that we rectify these issues much sooner than that, but I did feel it was appropriate to let the public know as soon as I have been advised that the worst-case scenario is 18 months to get these light rail vehicles rectified and back on the tracks."

Mr Stokes said the problems found in the inner west trams were likely to be "far broader in scope" than just Sydney because thousands of the same tram types operated around the world, including Europe and the US, as well as in Newcastle and Canberra.

"What we have identified we believe is likely to be a design flaw," he said. "It's likely to be a global concern." ...

[SurfRail]

Wasn't there an announcement in the last 6 months ish that they were buying more trams for the L1 line? Surely it's not these new trams that are broken but the old ones?

Sent from my SM-G780F using Tapatalk

New ones aren't here yet.

This is what happens when you buy fixed truck trams and throw them at so many curves day in and day out (and don't buy enough to run the service properly), and don't maintain the track properly.

Ours won't have the same problems as the G: has nowhere near the curvature and is better maintained and profiled regularly.

[verbatim9]

They reckon the inner west light rail might be closed for up to a year. The likely cause is a manufacturing fault affecting these  trams worldwide.

[Cazza]

The likely cause is a manufacturing fault affecting these  trams worldwide.

Of course that's what the pollies will say. See here:

This is what happens when you buy fixed truck trams and throw them at so many curves day in and day out (and don't buy enough to run the service properly), and don't maintain the track properly.

[ozbob]

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/inner-west-light-rail-shut-for-up-to-18-months-after-cracks-found-in-trams/news-story/6133c1d79ff3d4dd2afbd4c835d27935  update

... The "design flaw" cracks in the wheel arches of the body of the trams were found during inspections and were present in all vehicles.

It can be revealed Transport for NSW officials began inspecting the inner west trams after the same Urbos 3 carriages were taken offline in the UK five months ago following the discovery of a crack on the chassis of one of the vehicles.

West Midlands Metro, which runs the service between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, removed all of its 21 trams for inspection in June.

While the Spanish manufacturer CAF is understood to have informed Transport for NSW officials that the UK problem was an isolated incident, the department instructed its engineers to conduct an examination which led to the discovery of the cracks in Sydney trams.

It is understood the cracks are being linked to bowing from the spacing of the suspension, which is designed to enable the carriages to sit as low to the ground as possible.

Talks will be held on Friday night between Transport for NSW officials and their Birmingham counterparts about the issue.

Transport officials are also alerting overseas jurisdictions using the Urbos 3 trams, including Israel which recently purchased 24.

Other countries using the trams include Belgium, Norway and Taiwan.

Authorities are also investigating the Newcastle and Canberra light rail systems, which uses the same trams. The Sydney CBD light rail service is uninterrupted. ..

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/cpenny_6/status/1457909255780982787

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1458446009999118338

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SMH --> Transport Minister expects Spanish manufacturer to pay for cracked trams $

NSW Transport Minister Rob Stokes says the state government expects the Spanish manufacturer of Sydney's cracked inner west trams to pay for their rectification.

Cracks have been found in all 12 inner west light rail trams, forcing the suspension of the service for up to 18 months, with the government still working to find the cause and a solution.

Mr Stokes on Wednesday insisted that he expected the manufacturer of the tram, CAF, to pay for their repairs.

"It is my expectation that the taxpayer not pay one cent toward the costs of rectification," Mr Stokes said during question time in the NSW Parliament.

"We will have to obviously pursue that with the relevant contractors, in particular the manufacturer, and it is my expectation that the transport agency do this."

Mr Stokes also said he had asked Transport for NSW to consider making the replacement buses free for the thousands of affected commuters, but was told by the department it could have wider implications on the network. ...

[ozbob]

News.com.au --> City with same trams as Sydney also shuts down its light rail network due to cracks

Sydney's light rail nightmare, which has seen services suspended for up to 18 months, appears to have gone global with another tram system abruptly shutting down for repairs this week.

Transport bosses in the British city of Birmingham have announced the suspension of all tram services "until further notice" after similar cracks to those found in Sydney were discovered on its carriages.

Sydney and Birmingham use the same Spanish made trams from manufacturer CAF. Similar vehicles also run on the Canberra and Newcastle tram systems.

It's emerged that Birmingham and Sydney are two of four cities that have now had issues with the same tram fleets. That poses a problem for Sydney because it could mean there are not just its units to fix, but hundreds globally. ...

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railjournal/status/1463180943775121409

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Cracked inner west trams no longer under warranty $

Cracked trams that were removed from Sydney's inner west light rail are no longer under warranty, casting doubt over whether the NSW government or private operators will pay for the repairs.

The 12 Spanish-built trams, which ran from Dulwich Hill to Central Station, were pulled from service in October after sizeable cracks were discovered, forcing commuters onto replacement buses for up to 18 months.

Transport for NSW confirmed to the Herald the trams have been out of warranty with the Spanish manufacturer CAF since the period expired between mid-2016 and mid-2017. ....

[ozbob]

SMH --> NSW government tests new CBD trams on inner west line $

The NSW government is testing the new CBD light rail trams on the inner west network in an attempt to revive the service that has been suspended for up to 18 months after cracks were found in the entire fleet of trams.

The CBD trams are not designed to run on the inner west line, but the government has tested them on the suspended network over recent days for potential passenger services. ...

[ozbob]

SMH --> 'High speeds, sharp curves' contribute to cracked trams: Spanish builder $

The Spanish manufacturer of Sydney's cracked trams warned the NSW government that sharp track bends had contributed to the faults, while new documents show questions were raised in the transport department over the standard of track maintenance.

The documents, tabled to NSW Parliament under an upper house order and seen by the Herald, also show key instructions about welding cracks on the trams were written in Spanish. ...

[ozbob]

Daily Telegraph --> Trams borrowed from CBD, South East lines to run on Inner West route $

Trams from Sydney's CBD and southeast lines will be repurposed between Central and Lilyfield to provide a reduced service on part of the Inner West Light Rail route from February.

But passengers will still need to change to a bus to get all the way to Dulwich Hill until the middle of next year, and the cracked Spanish trams that were recently taken out of service will not be fixed until the October long weekend.

Further testing needs to be done to ensure trams from the CBD and southeast lines can work on the inner west route, and drivers still need to be trained in driving the vehicles. ...

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1489971847278264324

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railjournal/status/1506313765674962951

[achiruel]

Looks like Glink really dodged a bullet by going with Bombardier rather than CAF. Not that I expect they had a clue, just lucky.

[SurfRail]

Need to avoid fixed truck trams is the lesson here.  We get away with it because the G: is purpose built to avoid complex geometry like the L1 route.

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Trams to return to service within 'a couple of months' declares Spanish builder $

Sydney commuters will be riding the full fleet of inner west trams within months under a pledge from Spanish company CAF to restore its trams to the network while it disputes claims that it bears all the blame for cracks in the carriages and a huge disruption to passengers.

The maker of the 12 original trams on the inner west light rail is confident of repairing the damage after it sent welders from its Spanish factories to join contractors in Sydney on the work.

CAF international division area director Iñaki Mendizabal said the company was conducting its own investigation in addition to two official investigations and believed it was too soon to make claims about the cause of the faults. ...

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/aussiewongm/status/1582926225990746113

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/CloverMoore/status/1602876626161004544

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1644591173833728001

[ozbob]

News.com.au --> Teenage girl killed in Sydney tram tragedy identified

The teenage girl who died in a horror accident after becoming trapped between two tram carriages has been identified.

Kyra Dulguime, 16, was killed while climbing through two tram carriages in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Emergency services rushed to the light rail track at Haymarket, in Sydney just after midnight after reports a teen had been struck by a tram. ...

... The girl was attempting to climb through the exterior link which connects one carriage to another, NSW Police officers told Seven News.

Police said once the tram began moving away from the Goulburn Street intersection, the teenager became trapped. ...

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Service boost to meet tram demand in Sydney's inner west $

Sydney's inner west light rail line will be boosted by more than 100 services a week from Monday as passenger demand for tram trips recovers faster from pandemic-era lows than for double-decker trains.

Four new Spanish-built trams for the 12.8-kilometre light rail line between Central and Dulwich Hill have been handed over to the state government, bolstering the size of the inner west fleet to 16 vehicles.

The new trams were purchased for about $25 million and will progressively enter service over the coming months once testing is completed.

The latest increase in services from Monday will result in trams running every 10 minutes along the L1 Dulwich Hill line between 10am and 3pm on weekdays, up from every 15 minutes.

They will also now run every 10 minutes – from 15-minute intervals – between 9am and 11am on weekends. That frequency of service will continue until 9pm on Saturdays and 7pm on Sundays. ...

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1680329679214116864

[#Metro]

History of the Sydney Tram Network - 300 km length.

[#Metro]

Western Lines

[ozbob]

https://x.com/TheSydneyBlog/status/1710816288271147368?s=20

[ozbob]

https://x.com/TheSydneyBlog/status/1725693922436104482?s=20

[ozbob]

A new direction for on-street transit

https://www.haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au/on-street-transit

Help us deliver a more reliable, frequent and easy-to-use bus and light rail network across the Six Cities.

The Six Cities region, comprising the three cities of Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, the Lower Hunter/ Greater Newcastle and Illawarra-Shoalhaven, is growing rapidly.

More than 97% of the population of the Six Cities regions live within 800 metres of a bus stop. Light rail services are playing an increasingly important role across Greater Sydney and Newcastle. Overall, on-street transit is our second largest transport mode and accounts for over 240 million trips annually across NSW.

Everyone deserves quality public transport, no matter where in the Six Cities they live and work. Reliable, efficient public transport is essential for an equitable society and a strong economy. With shorter implementation timeframes, on-street transit is a critical part of an agile and responsive transport network which grows as our cities grow. It can also stimulate residential development and help address the housing crisis.

Tell us what you think

We want your feedback to help us understand the challenges faced by industry, business and passenger stakeholders in our on-street transit network and how the NSW Government can help. What you tell us will help formulate a long-term strategy for on-street transit across the Six Cities.

The On Street Transit White Paper sets out key proposals to improve our bus and light rail network. Download the White Paper or the One Page summary and contribute to the discussion.

[ozbob]

https://x.com/TransdevAustNZ/status/1783664854177288628

[ozbob]

https://x.com/sydthenandnow/status/1812806846115414043

[ozbob]

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1814527856267174172

Strong winds around Sydney today.

[ozbob]

Tram collision with truck at Haymarket | 7NEWS

[Jonno]

Car and truck collide it is an accident and part of life! Truck and tram collide it is shocking, a debarcle and a catastrophe!!  Carbrain much?