The Future Inner Sydney Light Rail Network

The Inner West Light Rail extension to Dulwich Hill will effectively double the length of the existing line, provide access to numerous significant urban renewal sites along the route and provide greatly improved opportunities for interchange at the Lewisham and Dulwich Hill stations on the Heavy Rail network. The paper also examines other proposed Inner Sydney Light Rail routes and their patronage catchments and the practical feasibility of shared onstreet running of Light Rail vehicles under mixed traffic conditions close to the Sydney CBD, on streets where existing commercial and residential property access requirements need to be maintained. The paper summarises the current patronage of the system and how this can be improved by increased train capacity and better fare integration in the future. The future effectiveness of Light Rail lines in Inner Sydney will also potentially be limited by the interactions with other traffic and the physical availability of trains and stabling locations. The potential future passenger comfort and urban amenity benefit of Light Rail vehicles replacing buses on the major surface streets of the Sydney CBD is nevertheless a highly desirable future attribute which will ultimately form a major part of the future justification for the current system extensions and proposed new routes. Note*: The paper represents the views of the authors and is not based on any official Arup study