Canberra Light Rail

The Canberra light rail network is a light rail system serving the city of Canberra, Australia. The initial line links the northern town centre of Gungahlin to the city centre (Civic) and has 14 stops. Services commenced on 20 April 2019. The 14th stop at Sandford Street in Mitchell commenced operation in September 2021.

An extension from Civic to Commonwealth Park (Stage 2A) is under construction and is expected to be operational in early 2028. Planning of a further extension from Commonwealth Park to Woden Town Centre (Stage 2B) will continue while construction of Stage 2A is underway.

History

Background

Walter Burley Griffin's master plan for Canberra proposed the construction of a tram network and a heavy rail line. However, excepting for the Canberra station, the city was exclusively served by buses from 1926, when the Canberra City Omnibus Service was introduced, until 2019.

While railways across Canberra, including one to Belconnen, were seriously considered until the mid-1960s, little discussion of a metropolitan tramway occurred until the 1990s. Before 1989, the ACT had been directly administered by the federal government thus any large public infrastructure expenditure in Canberra was subject to national scrutiny.

In the early 1990s, Canberra Land proposed an line from Canberra Racecourse via Northbourne Avenue to Civic with Melbourne tram B2089 displayed in February 1992.

A light rail connection for Gungahlin was proposed as far back as 1992. An eight-year-old Canberran proposed the idea of a tram line to the newly announced, but undeveloped town centre of Gungahlin in April 1992. In October 1992 a syndicate of private land developers MBA Land and Consolidated Builders (together known as Canberra Land) incorporated rail into an urban village plan. The Gungahlin proposal followed a 1991 Murdoch University report, ''Towards a More Sustainable Canberra'', which suggested the city was too car-oriented and should implement a light rail system along the Y-Plan. In 1993 a report by Maunsell-Denis Johnston and Associates found that a dedicated inter-town busway was a more viable transport option for Canberra than light rail.

In 1994, the ACT Government commissioned a study into light rail, based on the findings of an independent report that light rail would be viable in Canberra by 1998. In its detailed report consultants Booz Allen Hamilton recommended a route from Belconnen to Barton via the City and Kings Avenue Bridge be operating by 1998; Woden to Barton by 2000; Tuggeranong to Woden by 2002 and Gungahlin to City by 2004. Routes to Canberra Airport and Queanbeyan received a lower priority. By January 1995 the then ACT Liberal Opposition Leader, Kate Carnell, announced her party's opposition to the light rail proposal citing "suspect" patronage figures and questioned the report's projected population for Canberra-Queanbeyan of 474,000 by 2016. Projections in 2017 for the Canberra-Queanbeyan population, forecast the metropolitan area reaching 474,000 between 2020 and 2023, four to seven years later than the 1995 projections. In 1995, the ACT Liberal Party came to power and plans for a light rail system in Canberra were dropped.

In February 1998, the ACT Government announced its support for the Federation Line, a proposed line from the National Museum of Australia via Civic to the Australian War Memorial. The line was proposed to use heritage trams.

In September 2001, to try to garner support for the project, Melbourne tram W249 and Sydney tram R2001 were placed on display outside the Australian War Memorial, the latter operating on a section of track and powered by a diesel generator. In a further display in September 2003, W249 operated on an section of track on Parkes Way.

In August 2012, an ACT Government submission to Infrastructure Australia estimated that bus rapid transit (BRT) had roughly twice the benefit-cost ratio of light rail transit (LRT) under a wide range of assumptions. However, the Government decided on light rail, relying partly on a triple-bottom-line evaluation by URS which found that light rail had higher social benefits and a better overall outcome.

The construction of Stage 1 of the light rail line was part of a deal struck between ACT Labor and the ACT Greens following the 2012 ACT election, at which Labor required the Greens' support to form government. Both parties had campaigned at the election in support of light rail.

The opposition Canberra Liberals opposed the project. In April 2015, the party announced it would cancel any contracts for the light rail if it won the 2016 ACT election. The light rail project was the major issue of the campaign. The Labor government was returned at the election, with the party claiming the result as an endorsement of the project.

Development

In the 2013/14 ACT budget, $5 million was allocated for early design work. In September 2014, the business case was approved by the government. The project, known as ''Capital Metro'' during planning, was developed by the government agency Capital Metro Agency (CMA).

The line was to be delivered under a public-private partnership. Expressions of interest were received from the following consortia:
*ACTivate: Downer Group, Plenary Group, Bombardier and Keolis Downer
*Canberra Metro: Pacific Partnerships, Mitsubishi Corporation, John Holland, CAF, Deutsche Bahn, Aberdeen Asset Management, Leighton Contractors, and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi
*CANGO: Macquarie Capital Group, Obrascon Huarte Lain, SMRT International, UGL Rail and Siemens
*Connecting Canberra: Capella Capital, Transdev, Alstom and Acciona Infrastructure

In March 2015, the government announced that ACTivate and Canberra Metro had been selected to move on to the Request for Proposal stage of the procurement process. The bidders submitted their final proposals for the Gungahlin to the city route on 4 September and had an additional four weeks to submit their proposals for a potential expansion of the project, from the city to Russell. The Canberra Metro consortium was announced as the preferred tenderer in February 2016 and the contract was finalised in May. Under the contract, Canberra Metro will operate and maintain the line for 20 years, after which ownership will pass to the ACT Government.

Design and construction costs were budgeted at $707 million. The Federal Government contributed $67 million to the project. Commencement of construction was marked by a sod-turning in the northern suburb of Mitchell at the site of the depot on 12 July 2016. Major construction of the route itself began towards the end of the year.

The CMA was amalgamated into a new government directorate, the Transport Canberra & City Services (TCCS), on 1 July 2016, resulting in the responsibility for the project being transferred to the TCCS.

Testing of the line began in June 2018. A section in Gungahlin was electrified and one of the trams made trial runs. The last tram arrived in Canberra in September 2018 and it was hoped to have the project completed by the end of 2018. The light rail eventually opened on 20 April 2019, with the final construction cost for Stage 1 being $675 million, some $32 million under the original budget.

Route

The line has its northern terminus at Hibberson Street in Gungahlin and follows Flemington Road, the Federal Highway and Northbourne Avenue to the southern terminus between Alinga and Rudd Streets in the City Centre. It is double track for its full length. Emergency crossovers are located to the south of the Dickson Interchange stop, as well as the north of the Nullarbor Avenue stop. There are 14 stops. The main bus interchanges are located at Gungahlin Place, Dickson Interchange and Alinga Street.

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Stops

The Sandford Street light rail stop commenced construction in 2020 and opened on 16 September 2021.

Operation

The service is operated by Canberra Metro Operations (CMET), in association with Deutsche Bahn Engineering and Consulting, under a 20-year contract. CMET is a joint venture between John Holland and Pacific Partnerships, both of whom are part of the Canberra Metro consortium.

CMET holds the contract to operate the light rail until at least 2036. Formed in 2016,ASIC Company Registry; ACN 612 397 485 it is a partnership between John Holland and Pacific Partnerships in association with Deutsche Bahn Engineering and Consulting. CMET commenced operations on 20 April 2019 with the completion of the first stage of the project.

CMET is part of the Canberra Metro Consortium, acting as the operations component of the group, with both its owners also being equity providers. CMET does not contract with the ACT Government, rather it contracts with Canberra Metro PC Pty Limited (Canberra Metro) to provide service on its lines, which then contracts with the Canberra Metro Agency to manage the project and provide services to the city.

The contract specifies the following minimum service levels for hours of operation and service frequency:

Rolling stock

14 CAF-built Urbos 3 trams operate on the system. CAF will also provide twenty years of maintenance for the fleet. The trams are long and consist of five modules. There are four doors on each side of the vehicle, two single-leaf and two double-leaf doors. The first tram was delivered in December 2017. The vehicles feature a red and grey livery, with a white reflective stripe in the middle. The depot is located in Mitchell.

Five additional light rail vehicles were ordered from CAF ahead of the construction of Stage 2A. These vehicles are capable of wire-free running, as required by the National Capital Authority within its defined area. Deliveries began during 2024 and by January 2025, four were operational, with two in regular service.

Control system

Tehnika's t-visor RAIL platform, also used on the Gold Coast Light Rail, provides the operators with a single, centralised control system. This encompasses the automatic vehicle location, traffic signalling priority, traction power & infrastructure SCADA, CCTV and passenger information systems, amongst others.

Stage 2 extension

The consortia participating in the procurement process for the initial line were asked to develop plans for an expanded route from the City Centre to the Defence headquarters in Russell via London Circuit and Constitution Avenue. This additional section was estimated to boost the patronage of the line as a whole by more than 30%. The proposal highlighted the desire of the Federal Government's National Capital Authority to use wire-free technology to power the trams in areas of the city under the authority's management. The ACT Government decided not to proceed with the expanded route but committed to releasing a plan for a second stage of the light rail network before the October 2016 territory election. It was considering extending the line not only to Russell but to the broader parliamentary triangle, possibly including Canberra Airport and the Australian National University.

Development

In July 2016, the government released a shortlist of four potential routes that could form the second stage of the light rail network. The routes were:
* City to Canberra Airport via Constitution Avenue and Parkes Way
* City to Belconnen Town Centre via Barry Drive past Calvary Hospital and the University of Canberra
* City to the Parliamentary Triangle via either Commonwealth Avenue or Kings Avenue
* City to Mawson via Woden.

In September 2016, the government selected a truncated version of the Mawson route that ends at Woden as its preferred second-stage project. The route is around long. Tenders to design various aspects of the project were called in November. At that stage, the only firm decisions the government had made about the route were that it would run from Alinga Street to the Woden Town Centre and use Commonwealth Avenue Bridge to cross Lake Burley Griffin. More concrete plans were released in May 2017. South of Lake Burley Griffin, the route will predominantly travel via Adelaide Avenue and Yarra Glen. Design options for several sections of the route that had yet to be locked in were presented to the public for comment. An option that would have extended the route to the Canberra Hospital was dropped in December 2017.

There were two options for the section between Lake Burley Griffin and Adelaide Avenue: a deviation to Barton with proposed stops at Old Parliament House, Brisbane Avenue and Sydney Avenue; or a more direct route via the Capital Circle. The longer route via Barton was selected by the ACT Government as the preferred route in April 2018. In March 2019, the Commonwealth Government offered its support for the extension to Woden, however, it favoured a different path around Capital Hill, arguing for a route along the State Circle. A delay in the federal government response meant planning work for the line was postponed, though choosing to not pursue the Barton route could mean a simpler regulatory process. The ACT Government is now investigating the State Circle route, which involves some technical challenges due to steep gradients for light rail.

When construction of Stage 1 began, construction of Stage 2 was planned to begin shortly after the completion of the first stage. The Federal Government will be invited to contribute to the project as part of the government's City Deals program.

In July 2019, the ACT Transport minister Chris Steel announced that Stage 2 would be divided into two parts: Stage 2A from Civic to Commonwealth Park just before Lake Burley Griffin, and Stage 2B to continue from Commonwealth Park to Woden across the lake.

Stage 2A

In mid-July 2019, the ACT Government submitted a referral for Stage 2A to the Australian Department of Environment and Energy, covering the extension from Civic to Commonwealth Park as well as an expansion of the depot in Mitchell.

In September 2019, the ACT Government approved the business case for Stage 2A, confirming the three new stops on the route and the requirement for London Circuit to be raised at Commonwealth Avenue where the light rail will travel. According to the Stage 2A business case, from the Alinga Street Stop to the Commonwealth Park Stop will be about 6 minutes.

At the 2020 ACT election, the opposition Canberra Liberals expressed in-principle support for Stage 2, but did not commit to continuing the project. With the re-election of the Labor government at the election, Chief Minister Barr claimed a renewed mandate to continue Stage 2.

In November 2022, works to raise London Circuit commenced. These works are expected to be complete by May 2025.

In late 2024, wire-free rail vehicles began to be used on the Stage 1 route, in preparation for their use once the Stage 2A extension becomes operational.

In February 2025, with the raising of London Circuit nearing completion, construction of the Stage 2A trackwork commenced. The extension is expected to be operational by early 2028.

Stage 2B

In mid-July 2019, the ACT Government submitted a referral for Stage 2B to the Australian Department of Environment and Energy, covering the extension from Commonwealth Park to Woden.

Potential further extensions

Stage 3: Belconnen to Canberra Airport

In October 2019, the ACT Government released its infrastructure plan which included stage 3 of light rail going from Belconnen to Canberra Airport via Civic, with the Civic–Belconnen section built first.

Stage 4: Woden to Tuggeranong

In October 2019, the ACT Government released its infrastructure plan which included stage 4 extending from Woden to Tuggeranong via Mawson.

Twenty-five-year vision

In October 2015, the ACT Government released a plan for a citywide light rail network that would be built over twenty-five years. The plan includes the following elements:

Political opposition and debate

In April 2024, the Canberra Liberals proposed an alternative from the ACT Government’s plans to extend the light rail network between the City and Woden. Instead, they suggested the establishment of dedicated bus lanes along the same corridor, presenting it as a more practical and financially responsible alternative to the proposed rail system. This proposal aimed to address growing public concerns about the cost, feasibility and long-term implications of the light rail extension, sparking widespread debate about the future of Canberra’s transport infrastructure.

The Canberra Liberals argued that dedicated bus lanes would deliver substantial improvements in public transport connectivity and efficiency while avoiding the high upfront costs associated with light rail construction. Unlike light rail, which requires extensive investment in fixed infrastructure such as tracks, overhead wiring and stations, dedicated bus lanes could be implemented using existing roads with comparatively minor modifications. This, they contended, would make the project more cost effective and achievable within a shorter timeframe.

However, their proposal was not without its critics. Advocates of the light rail extension pointed to the long-term benefits of rail infrastructure, which they argued went beyond immediate transport needs. Light rail, they contended, has the potential to reshape urban development patterns by encouraging higher-density housing and commercial activity along its corridors. This, in turn, could reduce urban sprawl, lower carbon emissions and create more vibrant, walkable communities. Proponents also argued that light rail’s fixed infrastructure gives it an edge in attracting investment and instilling confidence in businesses and residents, who view it as a permanent and reliable form of transport.

Environmental considerations also played a role in the debate. While buses are increasingly adopting cleaner technologies such as electric and hydrogen fuel cells, light rail remains a zero-emission option powered by electricity. Supporters of the light rail extension highlighted its potential to reduce Canberra’s overall carbon footprint, contributing to the city’s ambitious climate change goals. They questioned whether a bus-based system could achieve the same level of sustainability in the long run.

In its budget submission, Public Transport Association of Canberra expressed support for expanding the light rail network to include the airport. The association advocated for extensions as a means to reduce transport emissions and provide a sustainable, efficient travel option for airport passengers.

References

External links

Transport Canberra - Light RailConstruction consortium website

{{TramsAustralia

Deutsche Bahn
Light rail in Australia
Canberra Metro
Rail transport in the Australian Capital Territory
2019 establishments in Australia
750 V DC railway electrification