Sydney (TAN): Newcastle, the harbor city in Australia’s New South Wales, has found a new way to travel.
A new tram service was launched on a 2.7 kilometre light rail line in Newcastle earlier this week, media reports said.
Operated by Australia-based transport provider Keolis Downer, the new light rail service is the company’s attempt to bring an integrated, multimodal conveyance facility to the city under the Newcastle Transport banner.
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Newcastle Light Rail is part of Keolis Downer’s ten-year contract with Transport for New South Wales, covering the operations and maintenance of the total network of light-rail, buses and ferries.
Keolis Downer CEO David Franks said: “Integrated transport is the most effective way to deliver public transport across multiple modes. Today,
with the introduction of light rail, the network will be fully multimodal encouraging more people to use public transport.”
The light rail line, running between Newcastle city centre and the public transport interchange at Wickham, features six stations. The network helps citizens connect with existing bus and ferry services.
While six battery-equipped low-floor CAF Urbos LRVs are being used for transporting commuters, the line is also free from overhead wires. Each vehicle has a capacity of carrying up to 270 passengers.
“From Monday February 18, light rail taking passengers through the heart of Newcastle will be the new normal, marking a key moment in the city’s revitalization. With 4000 new homes and almost 8000 more jobs expected in the city centre by 2036, Newcastle Light Rail will play an important role in keeping this growing city moving, and reducing congestion well into the future,” media reports quoted Andrew Constance, Minister for Transport and Infrastructure as saying.
The Keolis Downer team opened the tram service a month ahead of schedule. Fourteen drivers were trained, and a record 10,000 kilometres were driven in just over four months during the testing period, an equivalent of 1,000 trips per vehicle across the network.
