Canberra - Light rail

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1081956568466284544

[red dragin]

It's been a problem forever, but we've only just bothered to say something 

Union membership renewals must be due.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/CanberraMetro/status/1085421328172269568

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https://twitter.com/Transport_CBR/status/1086850903389425665

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/RailGallery/status/1087514977097764865

[verbatim9]

That's going to look so cool if and when it snows next in Canberra?

Last snow dump was in 2016 and last major snow dump was in 1965 which covered Canberra significantly. Be interesting to see LRT traverse through that? Be an Australian first

[ozbob]

Not quite. Snow falls regularly in Hobart.  Trams used to run in that.



I can also recall that trams in Ballarat used to run in snow at times as well.

[verbatim9]

Great trivia! That's the versatility of LRT, definitely all weather public transport.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1090280563125022722

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/AusRailHistory/status/1094900537156227072

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https://twitter.com/RailExpressNews/status/1103127229368860672

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https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1104766524512821253

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https://twitter.com/TomMcIlroy/status/1107848762167197696

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1109116508922273792

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Canberratimes --> Jobs created on Canberra's light rail 'exceeded expectations'

Canberra's light rail created more than 4500 jobs during its construction - 1000 more than predicted - as the focus shifts to stage two of the project.

The Civic to Gungahlin line will start taking passengers in three weeks, nearly three years after the project broke ground.

A jobs analysis by Ernst and Young in 2014 predicted the light rail project would deliver a gross 3560 jobs during construction, employing 900 workers at its peak.

But new data shows as of February, Canberra Metro had inducted 4637 workers and contractors on the project, excluding Transport Canberra staff.

An ACT government spokeswoman said it was clear job creation on the project had "exceeded expectations".

"This has been a huge job-creating construction project for our city. Over 3.38 million people-hours have been accumulated on the project so far," she said.

Jobs created included machinery operators and welders, traffic controllers, surveyors, as well as inspectors and certifiers.

Other jobs included those in environmental management, landscaping, engineers and designers, government services, artists and physical infrastructure of road, rail and other transport, water and sewerage, electricity, gas and telecommunications.

The project was also used to get the University of NSW at ADFA to open undergraduate engineering degrees to students in Canberra.

The Ernst and Young report warned against making blanket claims on the jobs figures, saying it was better to quote net "achievable" jobs  - 1930 on construction - than the "gross footprint" jobs  - 3560 - because the net figures accounted for the displacement of jobs from elsewhere in the ACT economy.

However the government spokeswoman said  the number of workers who had completed the Canberra Metro induction - 4637 - was the best current proxy to measure the number of jobs generated by the project.

"The jobs analysis was a methodology that was worked through by Ernst and Young, making an assumption on job figures across the construction phase of the light rail project," she said.

"In practice it is difficult to provide figures against the exact categories mentioned by Ernst and Young, particularly when it relates to indirect jobs.

"The actual figures are best represented through the number of people who worked directly on construction of the light rail."

Canberra Metro's environmental impact statement also expected 125 jobs to be directly created as a result of the project.

The government spokeswoman said Canberra Metro had close to 70 light rail drivers and customer services officers employed. Another 60 jobs have been created directly as part of light rail operations once services commence in the depot and elsewhere.

The question now is how will the ACT government roll over the jobs from stage one construction, when they are still yet to finalise the route and business case for the second stage of the project.

From the outset, the government said it was keen to minimise the delay between stages so the employment pipeline continued, a sentiment echoed by federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten when he promised $200 million for the project last month.

However a federal parliamentary inquiry into the Civic to Woden route delayed the project and forced the territory government to re-think its chosen course.

Asked about the growing gap between the projects, the government spokeswoman said the skills developed through its construction could be used in other infrastructure projects.

"The great thing about light rail stage one is that it has increased the skills and capability of the local industry to respond to major projects, which can be leveraged into future stages of light rail and other public works projects," she said.

"In the current planning phase for stage two from the City to Woden, Transport Canberra [is] considering how to utilise the experience developed on stage one in the Canberra region, and how to build on the experience of other light rail projects around Australia."

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/AustRail/status/1118716425705705473

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Canberratimes --> Light rail system gains last-minute accreditation just in time for first passengers


Transport Canberra and City Services director-general Emma Thomas with one of the light-rail vehicles. Photo: Rohan Thomson

Canberra's light rail project has received accreditation, less than 24 hours out from the first passengers boarding.

Hundreds of people will get a chance to ride the light rail on Thursday, ahead of its official opening on Saturday.

But on Wednesday, Transport Canberra and Canberra Metro were still waiting for regulators to officially sign off on the project.

The project required three key accreditations - from the technical regulator, the National Rail Safety regulator and the independent certifier.


It is understood the community loop would have proceeded whether or not accreditation came through.

Officials had hard hats and high-vis vests on hand for members of the public on the off-chance it did not.

However Transport Minister Meegan Fitzharris' office confirmed accreditation came through late on Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, Ms Fitzharris told The Canberra Times she was confident the project would be signed off on before Thursday.

"We're literally waiting for some documentation to exchange hands but clearly the system is safe now, it's close to full operations over the last few days particularly so there's never been a concern about the safety of the system testing, it's just that final piece of the puzzle," she said.

Ms Fitzharris said the final accreditation of the project was "always going to come quite late in the piece".

"It's just the nature of these big projects," she said.

Transport Canberra deputy director-general Duncan Edghill also confirmed accreditation was on track.

"It was always anticipated that the independent certifier would happen right at the last second, because, by definition, as soon as you've got that you're into operations the next day," he said.

Project director Meghan Oldfield said it was common for accreditation to come through this close to operations beginning.

"I've never been on a project where I've had the luxury of time," she said.

Even after services commence on Saturday, construction and landscaping will still occur along the alignment, she said.

"There will still be works, which we'll call remaining works, which will be noticeable to the public and that will happen after [Saturday], there might be some landscaping or some completion of asphalting and some of those kinds of things will remain after, but the goal will be to have anything safety related or impacting passenger services to have that complete before we start operations," Ms Oldfield said.

Mr Edghill said none of the remaining works would have anything to do with customer safety or the operating system.

"It's really about putting that final polish on the system," Mr Edghill said.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the light rail launch on Saturday, with free rides and entertainment at the Civic and Gungahlin stations.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1118903886306140161

[ozbob]

Light Rail Launch

https://www.transport.act.gov.au/about-us/public-transport-options/light-rail/light-rail-launch-event

You are invited to the launch of Canberra's biggest ever infrastructure project – the launch of Canberra's first light rail route: Gungahlin to City.

Saturday 20 April 2019

Ride the light rail for free, and while you wait enjoy live music, roving entertainment, kids' activities  at both City and Gungahlin terminals.

Light Rail Launch

Share your photos on social media using #cbrlightrail

Please note: All passengers will have to get off at the end of the line to give other people a chance to get on.

Ride the light rail:

From 9 am – 4pm.

Hop on the light rail at no cost. While all 13 stops will be open and operating, queues will be managed from the City (Alinga Street) and Gungahlin (Hibberson Street) and you more likely to get a place if you board at these locations.

While you wait:

From 9 am – 4 pm

Enjoy music, food and kids' activities at Gungahlin and City terminals. Support our charity partner Hands Across Canberra through a gold-coin donation or by visiting their barbecue in the city, and visit the Transport Canberra Information Tent to learn more about light rail and Canberra's integrated transport network.

Plan Your Day

It's a big day for Canberra, so expect crowds and queues. Get essential information to plan your day..

Road closures and traffic conditions

Expect road closures in the City on Northbourne Avenue between London Circuit and Barry Drive
City road closure map (PDF 111KB)

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/AustRail/status/1119409642688225280

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/SimonCorbell/status/1119425340693041152

[verbatim9]

Great outcome for Canberra. I have been there prior and during the build time frame and have noticed astonishing positive urban renewal as a result. The benefits will flow on to community for many years to come.

[ozbob]

Nice video >>  https://photos.app.goo.gl/6esxZGXyXjGUpJvg9

[verbatim9]

^^Thanks Bob did anyone hear the automated announcements in reference to which side of the tram to hop off? I like how the announcements are shared with a female and male voice over. Very well done! Can @QR do the same on Qld trains instead of manually interrupted announcements from guards @surfrail @ozbob?

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1119630235966685184

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/canberratimes/status/1122466741773373440

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Rail Express --> Canberra light rail arrives late but under budget

Stage one of the Canberra Light Rail project has come in $32 million under its contracted budget for a final cost of around $675 million.

The project was built as a collaboration between the Australian Capital Territory Government and Canberra Metro and launched to the public last month.

The saving is even larger when compared with the original business case proposed for the 12km line — also referred to as the Capital Metro project —  released in 2014.

The full business case for the project estimated that it would cost $783 million and open in 2019, and referred to analysis from Ernst and Young to suggest the project would return $1.20 for every dollar spent. Since the project came in under budget however, this has been revised to a return of $1.30 for every dollar spent.

The initial business case budget was later revised downwards by 9.7 per cent in the project's final stage one contract released in 2016 to $707 million. This contract also moved the start date forward to 2018, a deadline the project would eventually not meet.

The final breakdown of the $675 million spend was split between $589 million for base design and construction costs and $85 million in contingency costs.

The project links Canberra's city centre to a terminus at Gungahlin in the city's northern suburbs. Stage two of the project is planned to extend the line to Woden in the south.

ACT Government Minister for Transport Meegan Fitzharris said that patronage on the rail line was greater than the predictions set out in the business case.

"Light rail is proving to be hugely popular already, with more people using it every day, and as a result we've added more frequent services during peak times to manage this demand," she said.

"Along the light rail corridor the benefits are plain to see: with light rail getting people to work, opening up new customers to local businesses and seeing hundreds of Canberrans employed on building and construction projects along the alignment that are already using their proximity to light rail to attract buyers."

[ozbob]

Canberratimes --> Barr government should tread carefully on Woden link

One immediate result of the Morrison government's unexpected election victory is the second stage of the light rail, the already problematic Civic to Woden leg, just got at least $200 million harder.

That is because the federal funding, pledged by Bill Shorten on March 13, conditional of course on his forming government and becoming prime minister, has evaporated along with the late autumn mist. We are yet to see what, if any, similar commitment the Coalition might make.

The money, to have come from a suite of policies designed to create jobs through infrastructure projects, had been welcomed by the ACT government, which saw it as a positive development at a time when the light rail project was already encountering serious headwinds.

It came soon after the decision to abandon the original Parkes and Barton Route in favour of running the tracks around the eastern side of State Circle, a decision Transport Minister Meegan Fitzharris described at the time as shorter but "not necessarily" cheaper.


That call had been made after a bipartisan federal parliamentary report found the proposed Barton route would "unavoidably add further complexity, time and cost to the project".

Andrew Barr, speaking earlier this week, made it clear the loss of the federal funding promised by Labor, which is extremely unlikely to be replicated by the returned Morrison government, was a grievous blow.

"I was expecting, or hoping, this week to be able to sit down with a Labor infrastructure minister and a Labor territories minister and focus on the parliamentary approval process and on delivering their $200 million commitment to the project," he said.

While Canberra's voters did their bit by delivering three federal seats, including the new seat of Bean, to Labor, Mr Shorten is no longer around to honour his side of the bargain. As a result Mr Barr claims the completion date may have to be pushed back.

It now turns out Canberra's iconic Commonwealth Avenue bridge may need to be replaced with an entirely new structure to accommodate trams, road traffic and pedestrians as part of a project already being tipped to cost between $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion.

National Capital Authority chief executive Sally Barnes told a Property Council breakfast on Tuesday "it would be silly not to look at" the option of a new bridge given both the federal and territory governments were already planning for separate and significant upgrades to the existing 56-year-old structure.

While the structure had been well maintained, it has now reached an age where between $70 million and $100 million needs to be spent to keep it going for another 60 years.

While it would be foolish to spend this amount of money at the same time the Barr government is considering a third bridge to carry the light rail, the cost of an entirely new bridge capable of carrying all existing and future traffic is the great unknown. It certainly won't be cheap.

Given early hopes synergies could be gained from starting construction on stage two immediately after the completion of stage one were dashed long ago, what was always going to be a difficult, costly and complex project has just become much harder still.

Stage one was delivered in a timely and apparently cost effective manner, and, so far, is proving popular. Let's hope stage two follows a similar trajectory.

[ozbob]

Canberratimes --> Canberra light rail passenger numbers down in first week

The first week of paid tram travel saw almost 30,000 fewer boardings than the weekly average during the first month of free services.

Transport Canberra points to the Reconciliation Day public holiday impacting figures in the first week of full fares, and the "three coldest days of the year".

In the first week of paid services between May 27 and June 2, there were 77,668 boardings across the week excluding the public holiday Monday, compared to the average of 106,279 boardings in a week in the free trial.

Figures show an average of 14,876 boardings on the light rail a day in the first paid week, after a month-long free trial.

However, it represents a drop of almost 2500 passengers, from the average of 17,297 boardings in the four-week free period.

Despite the drop, a spokesman for Transport Canberra said more data was needed to determine trends on the light rail network and it was too early to determine if passengers were declining.

"Historically, we see reduced patronage across the network due to poor weather and holidays," the spokesman said.

"The week of May 27 to June 2, we experienced three of the coldest days of the year and Monday was a public holiday."

More services had been added to the light rail network during the four-week free period due to increased passenger demand.

One extra service was added to the morning peak while three more were added to the afternoon peak.

The Transport Canberra spokesman said the number of services running since the introduction of paid fares had not changed.

"Service and capacity levels are continually monitored and any increase to service levels will be made as the need is identified," the spokesman said.

Overall, Transport Canberra says boardings had been better than anticipated, already topping numbers expected in two years time.

"Transport Canberra is very pleased light rail is so popular. We're already hitting our 2021 business case passenger numbers."

While passenger numbers on the light rail may have been down in first week, Transport Canberra has said there was an increase in people using public transport in Canberra across the whole network compared with the same time last year.

Overall, more people are using buses and trams put together than used the buses this time last year.

Passenger journeys have increased 9 per cent this year compared with the same point in 2018, while boardings are up 13 per cent.

"Journeys across the entire new network are up 12 per cent," the spokesman said.

"Transport Canberra expects that patronage will continue to increase week on week from previous years."

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1140710332899270658

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https://twitter.com/canberratimes/status/1142684964485382144

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A recent visit to Canberra ...































Photographs R Dow 3rd and 4th July 2019

[ozbob]

Great start this light rail.  Hopefully politics will not get in the way of future expansion.

[ozbob]

Facebook ...

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ChrisSteelMLA/status/1150599835545788418

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Canberratimes --> Canberra light rail: Car crashes into tram in Gungahlin

A car and a tram have crashed on Canberra's light rail network, causing delays across the network, Transport Canberra says.

A government spokesperson said the crash happened after 12.30pm, at the intersection of Northbourne Avenue and Swinden Street.

No injuries have been reported, and emergency crews were at the scene as of 1pm.

The crash forced delays across the light rail network.

A separate crash between two cars near the light rail line north of Well Station Drive in Harrison happened a short time after the first incident, exacerbating some of the delays.

Buses replaced tram services for almost an hour between Nullarbor Avenue and Dickson Interchange, Transport Canberra said.

Services on the network returned to normal after 1.15pm.

An ACT police spokesman said the circumstances behind the incident were being investigated.

Road traffic was affected while emergency crews attended the scene.

The incident is the first between a tram and a car on the network since it opened to passengers in April this year.

The ACT government earlier this year released footage of multiple near misses between cars and trams while testing took place.

A pedestrian was hit by a tram during testing earlier this year.

Accident on the corner of Nullabor Avenue and Flemington Rd. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong

[verbatim9]

Canberra light rail's business plan for stage 2A approved by ACT Government, London Circuit to be raised

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-10/london-circuit-light-rail-canberra-raised/11497120

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Transport_CBR/status/1186092261190307840

[ozbob]

Gungahlin 11th October 2019

Photograph R Dow

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Rail Express --> Canberrans looking forward to a light rail extension

Canberra's light rail will soon be extended with a number of additional stops, after the first six months of the service were labelled a success.

"More than 15,000 people use light rail every day with patronage at levels not expected until 2021. In the past six months we have recorded over 2.2 million light rail passenger trips," said ACT's Minister for Transport Chris Steel.

Canberra Metro Operations conducted a customer satisfaction survey which showed that over 90% of respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied with the service. The survey also found that 94% of respondents were satisfied with the light rail's punctuality. Of those who responded, 45% used the service daily and 72% used it weekly.

"We want to build on the success of stage one to bring light rail to Woden, making it easier for Canberrans to get around our city."

Work towards the light rail stage 2A extension, from the City to Commonwealth Park, is expected to begin next year with three additional stops announced.

"[This] will mean better connectivity for more Canberrans," said Steel.

"By starting the work on stage 2A now, we are capitalising on the jobs and expertise developed through the stage one construction phase as we continue to work with the Commonwealth Government on the necessary approvals for light rail to progress through the Parliamentary Triangle to Woden."