Light relief

Sydney built one of the world's biggest tramway systems a hundred or so years ago, before tearing it all up to make way for the all-conquering motor car. My impression is that in those days they put down the rails, concreted around them, stuck up the power poles, and off they went. Probably built whole lines before breakfast.

Well, now they're coming back. Or at least, one new line is coming, to supplement the one built a few years ago.


You don't say trams these days, it's light rail. And crucially, this thing is taking many long years and $2.5 billion to build. It will run from Circular Quay, up George St, past Central Station, through Surry Hills, and out past Moore Park and Centennial Park, to Randwick and Daceyville.


So George St has been a construction zone nightmare for a long time now, but suddenly, there's some pre-Christmas light relief. No trams yet, but a couple of blocks are more or less ready, construction-free and pedestrianised. Don't get your hopes up too much though. It will be 2019 before you can expect services to start.


I paced out most of the route yesterday. My personal tour of inspection. It is indeed quite a big project, maybe worth a billion or two after all. It's made bigger by the ground-level power supply system being installed for the CBD sections. It switches to overhead cable further out.