Four new trams promised for Sydney's crowded Inner West line (original) (raw)

The NSW government will purchase four new light rail vehicles for Sydney’s crowded Inner West line, allowing it to move an extra 1000 people during the post-pandemic peak.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the government would begin the procurement process for the four new trams in coming months, which are expected to arrive within two years.

The Inner West Light Rail was packed during the peak pre-COVID.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Patronage was increasing at more than two per cent per year before the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 10 million trips recorded in 2019. And while that dropped during the pandemic, the light rail hasn’t been hit as hard as trains, Mr Constance said.

“Patronage is just at a level where crowding is terrible. This thing has gone gangbusters, it’s just off the charts, next level,” he said.

“People are opting for public transport over cars, that’s the thing about Sydney, it has really become a train city, it wouldn’t matter if it was light rail, metro or the inter-city trains.”

While the government is yet to put a price tag on the four new light rail vehicles, it is expected to cost roughly $40 million.

Peak hour services will increase from every eight minutes to six minutes once the four new trams arrive, increasing capacity by more than 30 per cent and building the fleet from 12 to 16.

Mr Constance said coronavirus had impacted global supply chains, but believed the vehicles would arrive before 2023.

“Timeline will depend, one of the interesting things with COVID is the supply chains in the component parts into vehicles has been affected around the world, so governments are really struggling with that,” he said.

“You would hope, like with all light rail vehicles, it would be 18 to 24 months.”

Labor MP for Summer Hill Jo Haylen said the Inner West Light Rail was proof that if the government built public transport “people use it”.

“These additional services will go a long way to beat congestion and help us all socially distance as we return to work,” Ms Haylen said.

“Inner-westies are amongst the highest users of public transport and we love our light rail but too often the trams are full or late.”
She said hundreds had signed petitions to lobby the NSW government to increase capacity of the packed service.

Ms Haylen met with Mr Constance and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet in Dulwich Hill on Wednesday to discuss the new trams.

Mr Perrottet said the cost of the light rail vehicles would not be set out in this month’s budget, given the procurement process was yet to be completed.

Patronage on the 12.8-kilometre line from Central Station to Dulwich Hill soared from 3.9 million journeys in the 2013-14 financial year to just over 10 million in 2016-17.

The line recorded more than 10.7 million commuters in 2018/19 and 8.46 million trips for 2019/20, with patronage affected by coronavirus restrictions.

The Herald revealed last year that commuters would likely have to wait at least two years for more trams to be running on the Inner West line.