The first of the two new tramway routes in Central Sydney, locally also referred to as light rail, opened to the public on 14 December 2019, regular service started two days later. The 9 km long line L2 starts Sydney Harbour circular Quay, crosses the CDB Central Business District and runs south-east bound to the suburb of Randwick. Two shorter stretches of pedestrian zone track are included. The tramway run here, between Bathurst St and the Northern terminus and Circular Quay without catenary using Alstom’s APS underground power supply system. Alstom’s Citadis X05s model are used in coupled pairs.
Another line, the L3 to Juniors Kingsford, branches off L2 south of the city center and will open in March 2020 bringing the new routes to a total of 12.7 km route lengths.
We already reported on the new system which complements the existing light rail line L1 and the extensive suburban train system, in September here: https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/sydney-more-light-rail-to-come/
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20.12.2019
Hmmm….In Melbourne they’re called trams. In Canada and the United States they’re referred to as either Streetcars or Light Rail depending on the level of separation from traffic. Any Aussies on here care to clarify whether they’re normally referred to as either trams or light rail in Australia?