The Sydney Light Rail Trundled Down George St For The First Time & Everyone’s Wilding Out

Sydney yesterday welcomed trams uh, light rail services to George Street, four years after buses were shooed from the CBD thoroughfare and decades after much of the city’s original tracks were removed.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian joined NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance for a ride on the new tramline light rail line, travelling from High Street in Randwick to Alfred Street in Circular Quay.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports punters lined the streets to watch the new service trundle past, but they’ll have to wait a few more months before that stretch of track is opened to the public in December.

https://twitter.com/AndrewConstance/status/1166684136561680384

The project will cost the taxpayer around $3 billion, which is nearly doubled what the government bargained for. That said, the project has been warmly received by punters, who seem pretty glad they’ll soon have decent public transport through a main CBD corridor.

Speaking to PEDESTRIAN.TV, Bendigo Tramways maintenance guru and lifelong ‘gunzel’ (Editor’s note: he’s also my brother, lol) William Adams said “the extra capacity and user friendly nature of the line will most certainly help with passenger flow, especially between the main interchanges of Central Station and Circular Quay.”

“The concept of coupling two trams together for peak hour capacity, good idea,” he added.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1sU-x6Hcf2/

https://twitter.com/eddiesummers/status/1166604058804871171

The test run comes amid a long period of major Australian cities realising that trams are actually sick. South Australia has reinstalled large stretches of tram line torn up from Adelaide streets, while Melbourne remains a world-renowned tram hub.

Trams. How about ’em.

More Stuff From PEDESTRIAN.TV