AUSTRALIA: CAF has been awarded a contract supply five battery-equipped light rail vehicles to Canberra from 2024.
It will also retrofit the city’s 14 existing five-section Urbos 100 vehicles with batteries, so that the entire fleet will be able to operate on the catenary-free extension to Commonwealth Park and on a future extension to Woden.
The five extra LRVs are due to be delivered ahead of the extension opening, enabling the existing vehicles to be taken out of traffic for modification without impacting on services. The depot at Mitchell will be expanded by mid-2024 to accommodate the larger fleet.
The LRV order ‘is a critical milestone for the delivery of the Stage 2A extension of light rail to Commonwealth Park and supports future services to Woden’, explained Australian Capital Territory Minister for Transport & City Services Chris Steel on August 9. ‘We need to order new LRVs now, and upgrade our existing fleet and depot, to ensure we have enough vehicles manufactured, delivered, tested and ready to start services to Commonwealth Park when construction of the track is completed.
‘Moving to retrofit all existing LRVs with onboard energy systems for wire-free running shows our commitment to delivering light rail, not only to Commonwealth Park, but right through the Parliamentary Triangle to Woden.’
The 12 km first phase of the Canberra light rail line from Gungahlin Place to Alinga Street in the city centre was opened in April 2019. Stage 2A will extend the line south by 1·7 km to Commonwealth Park, including a catenary-free section. Being jointly funded by the Australian and ACT governments, this section is scheduled for completion by 2024.
Stage 2B would add a further 9·3 km, taking the route across Lake Burley Griffin and south to Woden. A commitment to construction of this extension forms part of the ACT Labor and Green parties’ Parliamentary & Governing Agreement of the 10th Assembly.
