Capital Metro, Canberra

Capital Metro (proposed)

Aerial view of Northbourne Avenue looking north from Civic with City Hill & the Vernon Circle in the foreground
Overview
Owner ACT Government
Locale Canberra
Transit type Light rail
Number of lines 1
Number of stations 13
Chief executive Emma Thomas (Project Director)
Website www.capitalmetro.act.gov.au
Operation
Operation will start 2019
Number of vehicles 14
Technical
System length 12 kilometres
Track gauge 1435mm
Route map
Legend

12 Gungahlin Northern Terminus

Flemington Rd Multiple stations

Federal Highway
Dickson

Northbourne Avenue Multiple stations

0 Civic Southern Terminus
Vernon Circle

The Capital Metro is a planned light rail system in Canberra, Australia. The initial line is planned to link the northern town centre of Gungahlin to the city centre (Civic) and may continue from there to the nearby suburb of Russell.[1] This line is currently in the procurement stages.

History

The construction of the light rail line was part of a deal struck between the Labor Party, and the ACT Greens following the 2012 Australian Capital Territory Election, at which Labor required Greens support to form government.[2][3] The project has been developed by the Capital Metro Agency. The government has announced the Capital Metro Agency will be combined with ACTION to form a new organisation, Transport Canberra, from 1 July 2016.[4][5]

In 2013/14 $5 million was allocated for early design work.[6] In September 2014, the business case was approved by the government. The line will be built by a public private partnership.[7][8] Expressions of interest were received from the following consortia:[9][10]

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.[11][12] The bidders submitted their final proposals for the Gungahlin to the city section of the route on 4 September and had an additional four weeks to submit their proposals for the city to Russell section.[13] The Canberra Metro consortium was announced as the preferred tenderer in February 2016.[14][15] The contract will see Canberra Metro operate and maintain the line for 20 years.[16] Construction is scheduled to commence in 2016 with the line opening in 2019.[17]

The total cost of the project is approximately $700 million.[16] In February 2015, it was announced that the Federal Government had agreed to contribute $60 million to the project.[18]

In April 2015, the opposition Liberal Party announced it would cancel any contracts for the light rail if it won the 2016 ACT election.[19] This has made the construction of a light rail network a major election issue.[20]

Route

The 12 kilometre line will have its northern terminus at Hibberson Street in Gungahlin, and follow Flemington Road and Northbourne Avenue to the southern terminus between Alinga and Rudd Streets in the City Centre. There will be 13 stops:[21]

The consortia participating in the Request for Proposal stage of the procurement process were asked to develop plans for an expanded route from the City Centre to Russell via London Circuit and Constitution Avenue. This additional 3.2 kilometre section is estimated to boost the patronage of the line by more than 30%. This section of the route is likely to use wire-free technology to power the trams. The government will evaluate the proposals and then decide whether to proceed with the expanded route.[22][23]

Operation

A fleet of 14 trams is proposed to operate the network.[16] The depot is planned to be located in Mitchell.[24]

Services are proposed to operate between 6am and 1am with a 6 minute frequency in peak hours.[16]

Twenty-five year vision

In October 2015, the ACT Government released a plan for a city-wide light rail network that would be built over a period of twenty-five years.[25] The plan includes the following elements:[26]

Corridor Notes
Gungahlin to City The first stage of the network
Parliamentary Triangle Connecting City to Russell, City to the Parliamentary Zone and Russell to the Parliamentary Zone. High priority corridor.
Woden to City Running via Adelaide Avenue. High priority corridor.
Tuggeranong to Woden (Athllon Corridor) Running either via the Athllon Drive Corridor or the existing rapid bus alignment along Erindale Drive
Eastern connections (Fyshwick and Airport) Additions to the Parliamentary Triangle routes, from Russell to Canberra Airport and the Parliamentary Zone to Fyshwick. High priority corridor.
Belconnen to City Running via Southern Cross Drive and Barry Drive
Molonglo to City Woden to City via Hindmarsh Drive, John Gorton Drive and Parkes Way

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Capital Metro.
  1. ↑ "Capital Metro Light Rail Project to be delivered through Canberra’s first large-scale private partnership" Katy Gallagher ACT Chief Minister 21 September 2012
  2. ↑ "Parliamentary Agreement for the 8th Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory" ACT Greens 2 November 2012
  3. ↑ Canberrans not completely on board light rail project: poll Canberra Times 3 August 2014
  4. ↑ "Transport Canberra - Public Transport Improvement Plan 2015" (PDF). ACT Government. p. 6.
  5. ↑ Lawson, Kirsten; McIlroy, Tom (27 October 2015). "ACTION and Capital Metro Agency to be rolled into one from 2016". The Canberra Times.
  6. ↑ "Canberra light rail funding included in budget". Railway Gazette International. 2013-06-10. Retrieved 2013-06-11.
  7. ↑ A Public Private Partnership for Canberra Metro Capital Metro
  8. ↑ Canberra light rail project moves ahead after business case approved ABC News 16 September 2014
  9. ↑ Carter, Mark (24 December 2014). "Bidders line up for Canberra LRT tender". International Railway Journal.
  10. ↑ -light-rail-in-act/5983144 Major companies vying for chance to build ACT light rail network, ABC News Online]], 22 December 2014, accessed 1 February 2016
  11. ↑ Barrow, Keith (19 March 2015). "Two bidders shortlisted for Canberra LRT". International Railway Journal.
  12. ↑ "Preferred consortia announced for light rail project". ACT Government. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  13. ↑ Belot, Henry (4 September 2015). "Canberra light rail hopefuls submit final bid papers for $783 million contract". The Canberra Times.
  14. ↑ Canberra Metro selected to build stage one of light rail from Gungahlin to the city ABC News 1 February 2016
  15. ↑ Capita Metro named as successful light rail consortium Canberra Metro 1 February 2016
  16. 1 2 3 4 "Canberra Metro named as successful light rail consortium". ACT Government. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  17. ↑ ACT light rail industry briefing Australasian Bus & Coach 18 September 2014
  18. ↑ Commonwealth Scheme to Support Capital Metro ACT Government 19 February 2015
  19. ↑ "Light rail contract 'will be torn up' if the Canberra Liberals win 2016 ACT election". ABC News. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  20. ↑ "Light rail will dominate next year's ACT election. Both main parties have more explaining to do". The Canberra Times. 11 October 2015.
  21. ↑ "Route and Stop Locations". ACT Government. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  22. ↑ Carter, Mark (9 February 2015). "Canberra expands light rail project". International Railway Journal.
  23. ↑ McIlroy, Tom (10 September 2015). "Underground power plan for Russell light rail extension". The Canberra Times.
  24. ↑ "Nuts and bolts". ACT Government. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  25. ↑ McIlroy, Tom (26 October 2015). "Woden and Parliament next for light rail lines in Canberra tram master plan". The Canberra Times.
  26. ↑ "Light Rail Network - Delivering a modern transport system for a growing city". ACT Government.
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