Above: An artist’s impression of how George Street could look with a light rail service.
A spate between the City of Sydney and the state government over the CBD light rail facility has come to a head after transport minister David Cambell agreed to investigate a George Street service as part of the light rail feasibility study.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore threatened to pull out of the research altogether after premier Nathan Rees unilaterally vetoed a light rail service for Sydney’s CBD, despite it being one of the main recommendations of urban design professor, Jan Gehl.
If the study finds a CBD light rail service viable, it could undermine the controversial proposal for the $5.3 billion CBD Metro.
UTS urban transport lecturer Dr Garry Glazebrook said the NSW state government had been anti light rail for a decade.
Despite proposals for western, south eastern and north eastern metros having merit, a metro for Sydney’s CBD would be a mistake, Glazebrook said. Light rail is better suited to the city and inner suburbs on the southern side of the harbour, he told Architecture & Design.
“Light rail is not the answer to every transport need but it’s an important part of the total transport solution,” he said.
White Bay, Glebe Island and Rozelle Bay could also be better serviced with a light rail than a metro. Glazebrook’s own proposal in the 30 year plan involved creating an affordable housing development of three-to-four storeys in the Rozelle Bay goods yard area that is currently earmarked by the government as a depot for the metro trains. Light rail would free up that land for affordable housing, Glazebrook said.
“They would need extremely high densities to justify the metro whereas, with light rail, the buildings along White Bay that needn’t be any taller than the current cliffs there so they wouldn’t block the view for the people in Balmain.”
Light rail along George Street would “transform” central Sydney into a pedestrian friendly, efficient transport corridor, Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.
The proposed service would transport at least 4,500 passengers an hour and link Barangaroo, the Rocks and Circular Quay to the retail cores of Town Hall, Chinatown and Haymarket.
