Tram Tracks 2

This month, we will look at the history of Modern Light Rail in Sydney.

In the 1990s as part of the urban renewal program at Darling harbour, the decision was made to convert a section of the disused Metropolitan Goods Railway line into light rail. The line opened in August 1997 between Wetworth Park and Central Station. An extention to Lilyfild opened in August 2000 and to Dulwich Hill in March 2014 when the line was renamed the L1 Dulwich Hill Line. The line operated under Metro Transport Sydney branding until June 2013 before being rebranded Sydney Light Rail.

Throughout the early 2010s a number of proposals were made to run a light rail line through the Sydney CBD between Central and Circular Quay, to Sydney Univeristy and to the Univeristy of NSW. In 2012, it was announced the prefered route for the new line was from Circular Quay to the Univeristy of NSW.

In December 2012, the government annouced the CBD and South East Light Rail (CSELR) project based on the previous prefered route. The line will run between Circular Quay and Moore Park via Central before branching off to Kingsford and Randwick via both the Lower and Upper Univeristy of NSW campuses.

Construction of the line began in 2014 and is ongoing with around 5 kilometres of track laid to date. The two lines are expected to be called the L2 Randwick line and the L3 Kingsford Line. Extention of the lines to Coogee and Maroubra respectively are widely expected.