Capital Metro, Canberra

Light rail in Canberra

Overview
Locale	Canberra
Transit type	Light rail
Number of lines	1
Number of stations	13
Chief executive	Glenn Stockton
Website	Transport Canberra
Operation
Operation will start	2019
Number of vehicles	14 Urbos
Train length	33 metres
Technical
System length	12 kilometres (7.5 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
System map Gungahlin Place Manning Clark North Mapleton Avenue Nullarbor Avenue Well Station Drive Depot Sullivans Creek EPIC and Racecourse Phillip Avenue Swinden Street Dickson Interchange Macarthur Avenue Ipima Street Elouera Street Alinga Street City West New Acton Commonwealth Park Lake Burley Griffin Albert Hall Parliament/Barton Deakin Yarralumla Curtin North Woden Woden Interchange Canberra Hospital The stops on the Woden extension are indicative only.

The stops on the Woden extension are indicative only.

The Canberra light rail network is a light rail system under construction in Canberra – the main city of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The initial 12-kilometre (7.5 mi) line will link the northern town centre of Gungahlin to the city centre (Civic) and will have 13 stops. The line was known as Capital Metro during the planning process. The project is being managed by Transport Canberra with services scheduled to commence in 2019.

Stage Two is currently being planned to extend the line south to Woden via Parliament House. Four line variations are being considered, including a diversion to the eastern suburb of Barton and a further proposal to extend the line beyond Woden town centre to Canberra Hospital. The extension will stretch 10–13 kilometres (6.2–8.1 mi) with 8–13 stops depending on the alignment.

Walter Burley Griffin's master plan for Canberra proposed the construction of a tram network. The network did not eventuate and the city has been exclusively served by buses since 1926 when the Canberra City Omnibus Service was introduced.

While railways across Canberra, including one to Belconnen, were seriously considered until the mid-1960s, little discussion of a metropolitan tramway occurred until the 1990s. Prior to 1989, the ACT had been directly administered by the Commonwealth Government thus any large public infrastructure expenditure in Canberra was subject to national scrutiny.

In 1991 a Murdoch University report, Towards a More Sustainable Canberra, suggested the city was too car-oriented and should implement a light rail system along the Y-Plan, an urban planning system established in 1967 now since superseded by the Canberra Spacial Plan.

In the early 1990s, Canberra Land proposed a 8.5-kilometre (5.3 mi) line from Canberra Racecourse via Northbourne Avenue to Civic with Melbourne tram B2089 displayed in February 1992.

...
Wikipedia