Sydney now has four light rail lines: The long-awaited opening of the 12-kilometre Parramatta Line – the L4 between Westmead and Carlingford – took place on 20 December 2024. At Westmead and Parramatta Square, there is a connection to the suburban railway to the centre of the metropolis and, in a few years’ time, to the planned metro line. The new line uses parts of the converted former suburban railway line to Carlingford and finally offers modern public transport convenience in the area served. There is a tramevery 9 minutes during the day, every 12 minutes in the evening and every 16 minutes after 11pm – an undoubtedly attractive service. A passenger volume of some 22,000 people per day is expected by 2026. Approximately 130,000 people live in the immediate area – within walking distance of the next stop.
The tramway operates with 13 seven-section, fully low-floor CAF Urbos 3 tramcars, which are equipped with Greentech Freedrive technology with lithium batteries so that they can run on the sections between Westmead and Ngara as well as Prince Alfred Square and Tramway Avenue without overhead lines, using power from the traction batteries on board the vehicles.
The Spanish company CAF not only supplied the rolling stock, but is also part of the Great River City Light Rail consortium, which consists of CAF Rail Australia and Transdev Australasia. This consortium is responsible for the construction and operation of the new Parramatta Light Rail system for the first eight years, with the option to extend for a further ten years. In addition to the rolling stock, CAF will also supply and integrate the track equipment, including the traction system, the substations, the signalling system and the control and communication centre.
Construction of a 10 km branch line from Parramatta to Carter Street is scheduled to begin in 2025. The line construction also includes a 320 metre long bridge as a so-called ‘public and active transport bridge’ between Wentworth Point and Melrose Park.
A map of the entire rail transport network in Greater Sydney is available here:
https://www.urbanrail.net/au/sydney/sydney-map.htm
We last reported on the new line here:
https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/sydney-parramatta-light-rail-starts-testing/
